Yours Mine or Ours?
by PrettyinPinkNikki21
Summary: What if the child you were carrying belonged to a fling ..what if the fling was staying in your guest house  Sequel to Finding Bailey and Jennifer's lie
1. worries and unexpected guests

_A/N I have received several negative and nasty reviews regarding my previous story and I must said I was extremely hurt and upset, that's fine if you don't like my story but please don't trash it until you understand my POV Life isn't a fairytale shit happens and I want to make the Harts three dimensional, it doesn't matter if they were constantly lovey dovey on tv, it was a different world then and we must move forward with the times and if you don't like where I take this story then by all means..don't read it criticize me when I make him beat the hell out of her which I wouldn't because domestic violence isn't funny but don't rip it apart until I'm done.. Lousia May Alchott didn't put up with that shit and neither will I .. Any further negative reviews and That'll be the end of my FF days including Cradle with my fellow co-author S-Davidson. I have spoken_

How do you tell the man you love that the child your carrying might not be his? That a wild fling in London could result in a child, very much wanted but somehow unwanted because of the circumstances and her own stupidity, wondering if this would be the moment she completely threw away her marriage, that a yearlong separation meant nothing and even the custody battle they had waged over their youngest daughter which had brought them together would now be for nothing. Her one thought every night since the doctor confirming her pregnancy was a question of how to explain her fear to Jonathan without sending him over the edge, could she lose him again? She knew that she was the all power, I am- woman -unstoppable Mama but that was before, when it came down to what was necessary to provide for her girls when Jonathan refused to but now things had changed, they had agreed that the past was over and now was the time to move forward. To start over fresh and make a new life for them

But now she was filled with so much doubt and uncertainty, she wondered what he would say, the hurt look in his brown eyes. If he would turn away from her in disgust, finally take the girls away because she was an adulterous bitch, She would slink back to London and raise this baby alone, always wondering if maybe she should have terminated and then gotten pregnant with his baby. Then again this could be his baby

So many thoughts overcrowding her mind and when he made love to her, she couldn't even be in the moment with him, she wanted to stop him to tell him that although she had loved him deeply and couldn't imagine her life without him, she'd made a mistake.

Especially when he would talk about the baby, how it would be great to have a son to carry on his legacy and how he would take all three kids to the baseball game, camping in the sierra nevadas, giving the kids skiing lessons in Aspen, creating all sorts of plans and not understanding when her face would drop in sadness, he chalked it up to hormones and the stress of adding a third baby to the ones they already had, He did everything he could to support her, from cutting back on his hours at work to taking the girls out to the playground after work and making sure that he was at home every weekend to just support her.

But she couldn't join in his excitement, her constant worrying was affecting the girls as well, Bailey refused to eat unless he was in the room and Emma screamed until Jonathan came home, many days Jennifer would sob in the pantry.

And asking herself whether this was really worth it.

Another one of her biggest fears was that at the doctor's visits when they would mention her due date and the date of conception, it would come out that maybe the baby wasn't his and every sonogram made it harder as the peanut grow and Jonathan's excitement grew.

She had once asked the doctor about a paternity test but after seeing the look of horror on the doctor's face as if a pregnant woman should do that, she muttered that she was doing research for an article and plastered a fake smile on her face.

Every day she thought of ways to tell him, to work up some sort of nerve but always backed out, in the beginning she had hoped that maybe and god help her, that she would miscarry taking away her anxiety but the first few months passed and being in her second trimester, she knew that the time would come when she would have to confess.

After a harried day with the girls, she put them to bed before Jonathan came home, having decided she would talk to him about her fears over a romantic dinner, he surely would understand.

She prepared his favorite food, fried chicken with mashed potatoes and corn, setting the table carefully every detail would be perfect.

She'd put Bree Van De Camp to Shame

And then the waiting game began, he was supposed to come at 6 like he usually did but soon it become nearly 10 and he still hadn't shown up, when she called his office, his secretary answered and told her that He'd just left the office moments ago

She gave up at that point, threw out their cold dinner and went to bed.

She'd just fallen asleep reading a book on being pregnant and how one woman coped with five babies under the age of three when he came in

"Jonathan," She struggled to open her eyes, she hadn't realized how exhausted she was

"Sorry Darling, I know I'm incredibly late," He kissed her nose

"What happened?"

"a Kingsford motor deal just collapsed at the last minute and I had to step in to fix it,"

"You couldn't have called?" she felt the bed sag when he sat down

"There was no time, as it is I'm going to have to go to London for a week or so"

"What?" She was fully awake now

"I'm sorry Darling,"

"You can't, I need your help," She sat up

"Darling, I have to, besides you'll be alright here and doesn't Stella come two afternoons a week?" he was referring to the high school kid she had hired as a mother's assistant but that was only on a tri- weekly basis and only when it was absolutely necessary.

"Please Jonathan, Don't go I need your help" She was scared, she'd never been pregnant before with two toddlers to constantly be after, there were afternoons that when he walked through the door, she practically threw the girls at him and went to soak in the tub

"It'll be alright, " He reached over and took her hand, "The week will go by super-fast and then we can start set up the nursery for the baby, have you thought of any names yet?"

"Chase for a boy and I'm debating between Ava and Aaliyah ," She said quietly

"I like Landon for a boy but I'm not too sure about Aaliyah, What about Grace?"

"Maybe, about the baby" it was now or never

"Darling, I know! What if I took one of the girls with me to London," He snapped his fingers like he always did when he had a brilliant ide

"No way, if you take one of them , whose is going to watch them because my darling, they are moving machines every second and they move like lightening ," She smiled at his idea but knew he wouldn't have a prayer in hell in keeping up with either of them "I'll figure something out, just go onto London and finish the deal quick so you can come back to us,"

"Are you alright?" He knew she was stressed about taking care of the girls and now with this new baby but lately it seemed that she was pulling away from him and some days when he came home, he noticed her red eyes as if she'd been crying

"Just tired," She sank lower into the bed and realized that this was not the time to be telling him when he was stressed about his deal, when he came back, definitely.

She hoped.

Like any good corporate wife, she packed his suitcase carefully, making sure he had enough clean shirts and his favorite travel kit, drove him to the airport with the kids and when it was time for him to board the plane, kissed him for all that he was.

"Hey don't worry, it'll be great and on the flight over, I'll think of baby names," He whispered in her ear over the chopper blades

She nodded and tears began running down her face

"Here's looking at you, Kid" He knew she loved his Bogart and kissed away her tears.

"I love you," She whispered back and stepped back to where the girls were sitting on the chairs "Say Bye to Daddy"

"Bye Daddy!" Emma yelled cheerfully

"Bye Bye" Bailey waved

"Be good for your Mommy and Daddy will bring you home surprises" He kissed both their heads and went to give his ticket to the Stewardess

"Mommy, Where Daddy going?" Emma asked noticing he wasn't leaving with them

"He's going on a trip but he'll be back soon, I promise," She picked up Bailey and Held out her hand to Emma who liked to walk on her own instead of being picked up which she knew wasn't easy for Mommy to do anymore

The week crawled by so slowly, she tried to cram as much fun as she could for the girls, taking them to the zoo, aquarium, play-land at least a dozen times and when she took them to the cottage at the beach, they went out of their minds, they loved running around in the sand and playing in the cold ocean but even she had to admit, she couldn't enjoy it as much because she knew that Jonathan would be back soon and that she would have to confess her fears, she wished she could talk to her best friend but She'd run off to Europe soon after Emma had been born with a painter and there was no way of finding her.

Every Night Jonathan would call her and tell her excitedly that the deal was being negotiated and that he was one step closer to coming home to her, he'd also met this wonderful Journalist who was interested in writing a book on Hart Industries and that this man was interested in seeing the day to day operations of the company.

She smiled and said it was a wonderful idea, that this could be the PR he wanted and could spin himself and Jonathan agreed but that he didn't feel right about putting his new friend up in the corporate apartments ..would a house guest add to her stress?

She'd tried to get him to change his mind, that the guest house wasn't nearly as nice as the corporate apartments but he'd insisted that this would be great because it would add another angle to the book, the father and the husband that he would be seen as more than just the millionaire, that he had it all and the fact that he had a trophy wife and beautiful daughters just made the icing on the cake even more special

At that point, she knew she'd lost the argument and said she'd make sure the guest house was set up. She cleaned it while the girls played and wondered who the journalist was , it could be anyone, she knew quite a bit of them but he hadn't given her a name figuring she wouldn't recognize it.

They came home while Jennifer was upstairs giving the girls their baths

"Darling!" Jonathan called up the stairs

"In the Bathroom, be right down!" She finished wiping the soap out of Bailey hair and eyes, Emma had been pulled out of the tub moments earlier and was wrapped in a towel signing to herself " Daddy's home!"

"Yayy!" Emma was so excited she dropped her towel and ran naked down the stairs to greet him "Hi Daddy!"

"Hello Miss Godiva!" Jonathan was happy to see her but was surprised when she came barreling down the stairs and into his expensive suit wet and naked

"Miss Emma, you need to get dressed please we have company," Jennifer said carrying Bailey down the stairs and nearly dropped her daughter on the landing when she saw the man standing next to her husband daughter "Oh my god Eli!"

"Hello Jennifer,"


	2. a midnight visit

Standing there with her daughter in one arm and her husband across the room with her other daughter, she couldn't believe that the man she'd once had a passionate romance with was standing there with a smile on his face like it was the most natural thing in the world, like her whole world wasn't simply crashing around all five of them.

"Eli.." She repeated

"How wonderful to see you!" Eli smiled that crooked smile and suddenly it was like they were alone in the room, she wasn't pregnant or had the girls and she smiled back

"How wonderful to see you!" She rushed down the stairs and into his open arms, when she hugged him, she heard Bailey's giggle and suddenly came crashing back down to earth

"How do you two know each other," Jonathan asked completely stunned at his wife's behavior, she only acted this flirty around him

"Old friends, right?" Eli said kissing her hand

"Very good old friends"

"Uh Darling, don't you think it's time for the girls to be getting into their jammies," He broke the silence

"Right ..Come on Baby," She took Emma's hand and broke her stare with Eli

"Just how good of friends were you?" Jonathan asked when the girls were upstairs..

"Very good, but that's not to be discussed now, we have a book to write!" Eli clapped his hands together and Jonathan showed him the guest house and left him there to unpack

He went back upstairs to find Jennifer having put the girls to bed and was just closing the nursery door when Jonathan approached her

"Girls asleep?" he whispered

"Yes I never thought they'd go down, " She walked to their bedroom with the baby monitor in her hand and collapsed on the bed

"What was that downstairs..with Eli?" He began loosening his tie

"What was what?" She knew exactly what he'd meant but she was going to gage his reaction because this would be the telltale sign if he could accept her omission

"You, you lit up like Rockefeller Center in December when you saw him,"

"I was just excited to see an old friend," She went to the bathroom and started brushing her hair, bent forward she knew he couldn't see her blush, she couldn't believe her own behavior but she remembered all those passionate moments with Eli and how he didn't look at her as the mother of his children or the old ball and chain, he looked at her with desire, such desire she had goose bumps just thinking about it. About how he'd kissed her lips and her neck, about how he made her shiver in a way that Jonathan hadn't in such a long time.

She was attracted to this man still and it would make her life even more difficult

Jonathan eyed her suspiciously but knew if she was backed into a corner, she'd put up her defenses and he'd wind up in the dog house. It wasn't worth the risk and besides whatever had happened in London was over , she was back where she belonged and that's all that matter.

Except there was still something that was nagging him, he couldn't place his finger on it though

"Jonathan," She'd been trying to get his attention for a few minutes but he'd been spacing out

"Sorry Darling," He shook his head trying to clear his mind, "what were you saying?"

"I was going to say, I have a sonogram tomorrow which will tell us the sex of the baby," She wasn't too sure about the father of her child but she was curious whether or not her new little peanut would be another daughter or the son that was desperately wanted.

"What time"

"Noon, I'm leaving the girls with Stella" She unbuttoned her shirt and slipped off her jeans to put her night gown

"I'll meet you at the doctor's office," He slipped his arms around her which wasn't easy considering she was all belly "Mmm, your so sexy"

"No.." She didn't believe him for a second, she felt fat and disgusting. And she couldn't remember the last time she'd taken a shower, at least without a little voice calling her

"You are beautiful," He kissed her lips and in one swift motion, he picked her up

"Ahhh!" She laughed," You'll break your back!"

"No, No, It's bedtime!" He carried her to the bed and placed her on it

She laughed as he kissed her gently and suddenly the room spinning, it was just like how it was before the girls were came along, when she couldn't get enough of hi kisses and could feel the electricity running through both their bodies

"Be pushy," She whispered

"I don't want to hurt you," He whispered back

"Never,"

He made love to her as if it were the first time, slow and steady and with such intensity, she was sure she'd never stop screaming his name..

When he was done and fell asleep exhausted on top of her, her immediate thoughts went to Eli in the guest room where he was going to be working on a book about Jonathan, her and the kids. She couldn't understand why her mind went to him after making love to her husband but suddenly she had to see Eli, to get him to change his mind about this book and get on the plane to go home, so she could avoid an ugly confrontation with both of them.

She slipped out from under Jonathan's awake after listening to his breathing to make sure he was completely under and reached for a pair of his sweat pants and a hoodie, her clothes were tight around her belly and she was more comfortable in his sweats.. She seemed to be much bigger this time than She with Emma

She kissed Jonathan's forehead and whispered she loved him and slipped downstairs, she stood at the back kitchen door, wondering if this was a mistake..could she put her marriage at risk again when everything was finally settled?

She took a deep breath, pushed open the kitchen door and walked across the yard to the guest house, she stood there for several minutes before knocking on the door

"Yes?" a voice called

"It's me.."

He opened the door and she fell forward into his arms, and when he kissed her, she didn't immediately push him away but after a few minutes, they came up for air

"I'm sorry, that shouldn't have happened," she apologized

"Why? I've missed you"

"I'm a married woman, who up until a few minutes ago was happy and wasn't an adulterous bitch," she was ashamed of herself

"Come on, you have to admit you missed me.." he pulled her through the door and onto the bed

"I did miss you but come on, this is my husband's house I can't do this and I didn't come out here for a midnight roll In the hay.."

"Then why did you come here?"

She stood up and paced for a few minutes before putting her hands on her belly, " I don't know whose baby this is and I am afraid .."

Eli was stunned into silence, he ran his hands through his, "What do you mean you aren't sure?"

"I mean, I slept with you and I slept with my husband in a span of four weeks which is how I somehow got pregnant and until the baby is born, I won't know .."

"Does Jonathan know.."

"No I haven't told him and I'm afraid of his reaction,"

"What do you think we should do,"

"I think I'm just going to wait until this baby born and I think you need to go back to London, now"

"How can you ask me to leave knowing that this might be my child?"

"Because what we had was a mistake and the fact I wound up pregnant is a direct consequence, you know what, I may never tell Jonathan because I couldn't bear to devastate him like that" She started to leave but he grabbed her arm

"How could you say what we had was a mistake, we had a connection something special.."

"What I have now is more than that, I have a life with my husband and girls and I couldn't live with myself if I threw it away"

"But how could you love someone who threw you away so carelessly"

"We both made mistakes and we've more than made up for it ..please just forget this book and go back where you belong"

"I'm sorry but I can't, this is a big career step and I need it.."

"You realize whatever you do will end up hurting all six of us in the end?"

"Six?"

"Jonathan, you me, the girls and the baby because they will grow up and learn about what you've written about them and our family"

"I'm sorry"

"I hope so..I need to go" She started to leave again

"Wait we need to discuss the baby"

"There's nothing to discuss, I will never tell Jonathan about my fears and neither will you, if you loved me at all, you'll leave me alone, I should have never come here" She left the guest house and walked to the gazebo to think.

If she'd only looked up, she'd have seen the crystal blue eyes of her husband watching her leave Eli

She sat out there until the sun came up and only when she heard Bailey cry, did she wake up realizing she'd spent the whole night out there

She walked back into the house to find Jonathan putting the girls in their high chairs for breakfast

"Where have you been," He asked heating up breakfast

"I guess I fell asleep," she kissed Emma's little head and put a bib on Bailey who was known for going face first into her oatmeal which required a hosing down after she ate

"I have to go to work," He kissed the girls but left without kissing her goodbye," I'll see you at the doctor's office,"

"You don't have to," She suddenly understood his coldness

"No I want to," and he left slamming the door

"Mama, Dada mad?" Emma asked after watching her normally loving parents act toward each other

"Yes my darling girl, very angry" She sat down at the table

The morning had passed in a blur, she'd fed the girls played with them and had barely managed to get them down so she could get herself ready for her appointment

And when Stella showed up, she nearly flew out the door

She arrived at 's office just barely making in time for her appointment to find Jonathan waiting for her

"Your Late, I had to push back two meetings to be here," he told her crossly

"I'm sorry, the girls kept me busy" she sat down next to him

"Was it the girls or something else?" he asked

"What?" she was stunned by his question

"Are you sure it was the girls or was it Eli?"

Just then the nurse called her into the back room, Jennifer recoiled as if she'd been slapped

She worldlessy followed the nurse, hearing Jonathan's footsteps behind her and sat down on the chair

"Hello Jennifer, Jonathan" Dr. Kendall came in

"How are you?" Jennifer asked quietly

"I'm doing very well, How are you and the girls doing?" Dr. Kendall fired up the computer

"Getting big and Beautiful, Emma's talking more and more, and Bailey..with her I'm afraid for my good china."

Jonathan was unusually quiet, He normally would have some story about the girls or a new business deal but he was just s sitting on the chair beside Jennifer watch them interact

"Here we go.. do you want to know what you are having?" Dr. Kendall asked

"Yes" They both answered

"Hold on," Dr. Kendall put her face to the screen and became serious

"Is something wrong?" Jennifer become instantly worried

"Oh my god.. Darling," Jonathan squeezed her hand

"Jennifer, Jonathan, you're not having one baby, I'm seeing three heads which means"

"Three babies," Jonathan whispered

"Oh my god!" Jennifer stared at the screen trying to see

"I'm seeing two little boys and another little girl," smiled broadly

"Five Babies oh my god," Jennifer started panicking at the possibilities of giving birth to three babies at once

"Are you sure? Because we only ordered one baby"

"I'm positive, see" she point to screen which showed three separate heartbeats "Congratulations you guys!" She put the scanner down and walked out of the room

"three babies, oh my god" Jennifer started to cry

"It'll be alright, we'll figure something I think," Jonathan was panicking inside but couldn't allow her to see it "I have a question for you and I don't want you to be upset anymore than you are"

"What is it?" she wiped her nose with the back off her hand, screw decorum she was having a meltdown

"Are you sure these babies are mine?"


	3. Names and Fears

After Jonathan asked her about whether or not the babies were his, they left the doctor's office in silence absorbing the news about three new little lives and the fact she was unsure of who the father was. She felt dirty like she'd committed a sin or something

When they got home and relieved the baby sitter, Jennifer busied herself with the girls while Jonathan went to his office to return phone calls and think. Eli wasn't in the guest house when they returned but his things were still there. Jennifer wondered if he would react as badly as Jonathan would if these babies were indeed his, the idea chilled her.

She was reading the girls their bedtime story when Jonathan walked in

"I need to know.."

"Please not now," She pleaded with him, she had so many thoughts going through her mind mainly how she was going to deal with three newborns and two toddlers

"We can't have secrets, our life together is too important to keep secrets and I need to know what happened,"

"I agree but I just can't imagine hurting you anymore than I already have, we just finally moved past last year,"

"Which we agreed was a mistake, we should have worked out our problems instead of separating, know something's been bothering you and after seeing you with Eli, I have a feeling I know,"

"We had a relationship," She confessed quietly " I may have even loved him, not as much as I love you of course but he was a great source of comfort when I needed it"

"And that great source of comfort lead to a sexual relationship," He asked looking into her eyes

She thanked god the girls had fallen sleep

"Yes"

"You didn't think to go on birth control,"

"I was a single mother living in London working 80 hours, kind of didn't think I would need it" She got up from the girls common bed and walked to the hallway

"How long after we were separated did you?" He followed her

"About six months, I guess,"

"Did you love him?" He asked watching her walk into the bedroom

"Not as much as I love you,"

"But you did love him,"

"He made me feel special, different.." She started folding the girls shirts

"Different how?"

"I don't know, just different I guess, I feel like I'm being interrogated Jonathan,"

"I'm sorry Darling, I just want to get it out there in the open before it becomes a cloud over our otherwise happy home," He took the shirt out of her hands and hugged her

"I know you do but it's just hard and I wanted so much to forget that year, I want us to live in the present which is kind of impossible .."

"When a piece of the cloud is staying in the guest house," He kissed her head," Do you want me to tell him to leave,"

"No I can't let you do this, this book is too important and if it's our story he's after then he'll get it one way or another,"

"But what about the babies?, And your doubts?"

"I have no doubts," She took his hands and placed them on her belly, "Feel this little foot, That's Chase, Next to him is Aurora and here," she pressed his hands almost to the side of her rib cage, "Is Jonathan Hart Jr. "

"My namesake, but isn't that going to be confusing?" He kissed her lips

"No because we are going to call him Jack, these are our babies, yours and mine, we created three little lives, no one else and although our lives are about to get a thousand times more chaotic, can claim them ..Darling you know that right?"

"I believe you," He said "Chase, Aurora, Bailey, Emma and Jack Hart, you do realize we may need a bigger house,"

"We're going to need a housekeeper is what we need, Are we going to be alright again? Can we build up the trust we broke with each other?"

"It's never been broken, only shaken right now the only thing that matters is you and the babies,"

She smiled but in her heart she wondered if he was right?

The next few days were spent making arrangements for the babies arrival, shifting rooms around and searching for a nanny, who could also double as a housekeeper because Jennifer's focus needed to be shifted from the house where Max had once reigned and she had taken over because she didn't trust anyone watching the girls and she didn't want them to grow up thinking that just because they were born into semi royalty that they were to be differently, her determination would be to see them grow up as normally as possible, to have all the same experiences as a regular kids, they would go to Public school, do girl scouts cub scouts little league, there would be no special circumstances and because three of them would be identical, she would treat them as if they weren't, that just because they shared a placenta didn't make them one person.

But in any case she still set out to find a nanny, not Mary Poppins exactly but someone could handle three infants and two toddlers alongside her without getting underfoot or in her way..

What she wouldn't give to have Max back, to his reaction to knowing that after so many years of being childless, that they had finally stepped up as adults and made the decision to have children although this wasn't something she had in mind, she'd thought maybe one or two kids but five? She must have been out of her mind

She contacted an agency who sent over a series of Nannies that just didn't seem like they could handle it and was seriously losing her mind when someone came to their door late one rainy afternoon

Jennifer was chasing after Bailey trying to get her dressed when the doorbell rang, hurriedly, she picked up Bailey under one arm and flung open the door

"Hello?" a nervous young woman in her 30s asked "Is this the Hart residence,"

"Yes I'm Jennifer and this is Bailey, how can I help you?" Jennifer hoped this woman wasn't selling her something, she really had no patience for that right now

"My name is Izzy Stephens, I'm here for the nanny position," Izzy looked like she could be in the academy at 21 Jump street rather than care for an infant

"Uh, please come in," Jennifer let her in the front door "Sorry about the mess it's been kind of crazy here.."

"Oh I understand, one of 12 brothers and sisters, chaos is my life," Izzy follow Jennifer into the house and followed Jennifer's gesture to sit down on the couch while Jennifer sat on the floor wrestling Bailey into her clothes.

"Basically I'm in over my head, I have two toddlers, one of whom is napping upstairs and I'm four months from giving birth to three babies so I need all the help I can find, I know it's asking a lot but it's a well paid job and you'd have access to the entire house, pool, tennis courts everything, do you have any questions?"

"How would you define my daily schedule?"

"Well, it would a be a 24 hour schedule at first then we'd figure something out until we're all settled ," Jennifer struggled to get Bailey into her shirt, who was more content at making faces at Izzy , who made faces back to her

Bailey pushed away Jennifer's sliding the shirt over her neck and walked to Izzy, picking up a book off the floor and shoving it toward Izzy

"Read," She ordered

"Bailey, what do we say?" Jennifer was surprised at Bailey's behavior her normal sweet demeanor was overtaken by a little bossy britches

"Now!"

Izzy took the book out of Bailey hand smiling, "What I think Mommy meant was for you to say please,"

"Read," Bailey ordered

"I won't read until you say please," Izzy winked at Jennifer over Bailey head

"Read now..please," she said through gritted teeth and plopped down beside Izzy just as Emma started crying from upstairs

"Umm I'd like to continue this," Jennifer said hesitantly,

"Go ahead, we'll be here reading," Izzy continued reading

Jennifer walked upstairs but not before observing Izzy's interaction with Bailey, she liked what she saw and she felt comfortable leaving her babies in Izzy's care.

As she grew heavier and heavier with the babies, she found herself slowing down, what normal energized her suddenly made her want to nap for three hours which was impossible with two toddlers despite the Amazing Izzy. And despite her 5'6 stature, the babies made her seem smaller because she was nothing but belly and because she was nothing but belly, her clothes didn't fit and when Jonathan found her sobbing in the closet one morning , he'd wondered if maybe she'd ever get her senses about her again

"Darling, what's the matter?"

"My clothes," she hiccupped

"Your clothes," He wondered what she meant, then again she was standing in the closet with just her bra and his old sweatpants on

"Nothing fits, I can't get into my own clothes, I want my body back!" She wailed, "I'm tired of being a beached whale, "

"Oh Honey, you're not a beached whale, you're a standing whale," He laughed but stopped when she heaved a manolo blanik high heel at his head "Sorry I was kidding, come on you know your gorgeous," He took her in his arms and kissed

"Please I'm exhausted, fat and let's face it, Joan Rivers is more attractive than I am.."

"But you got a nice set of boobs though," He smiled

"Thanks," She laughed, she couldn't believe he still found her sexy even with her entire body distorted , he truly was a special man and her deepest fears were hoping to never hurt him may come to the surface with her doubts.

She tried to stay in shape and would often exercise while Izzy took the girls outside, One morning she was finishing up her routine when Eli came in from the guest house, he'd avoided her for fear of Jonathan finding out about them and becoming angry, She hadn't told him about the babies for the same reason and when he came in, she was startled

"Oh Eli!" She jumped and realized she was parading around her living room wearing a sports bra and bicycle shorts ,because she got warm so easily sometimes it was easier to just get down to the bare necessities

"Sorry I could never resist a beautiful woman," He smiled leaning against the doorway

"I'd watch it, I'm a married woman .."

"Yes but that doesn't mean we can't have some fun while the cat's away,"

"It does when I value my marriage," She ran her fingers through her ponytail

"Come on, Jen..think of that wild time we had in London,"

"Eli, I love my husband please .."

"Did you love him while he abandon you in London, with two little girls,"

"He didn't abandon me, we separated because we needed space, why am I even defending my marriage to you?" She was getting angry and it wasn't good for the babies

"Because you know you still love me,"

"Eli, what we have is over, what I did then is over..what I need to do is concentrate on my husband, the girls and these babies,"

"Wait, Babies?"

"Damn," she swore under her breath, "Yes Babies, three babies, two boys and a little girl,"

"Oh my god, and their mine?" Eli looked stunned

"No these babies are Jonathan's, my husband," She started to walk up the stairs

"And you know this because," he followed her

"Because my heart and conception dates tell me so, now please I am going to take a shower and then wait for MY husband to come with dinner,"

"Come on, Jen, just one little kiss," He leaned forward to kiss her lips but she pushed him away

"I said No, my god were you this much of an asshole in London," She couldn't understand him, he'd been so sweet and wonderful before this whole thing started and now his behavior was..

Ugly and it was about to get uglier

"Hey! Was that nice?" He pulled her arm , she wrenched it free and started to go up the stairs at a more frantic pace

"Get out of my house now!" She yelled

"Not until you give me what I want," He took the stairs two at a time and grabbed at her arm again, afraid of being sexually assaulted again, she pushed him away and in doing so, her foot slipped off the stair and her legs suddenly went out from underneath her, she caught Eli on her away down and they both toppled down the stairs, his body not nearly as much cushion as it should have and her last thought before her head hit the cold floor was that of her unborn children


	4. Five years later

_Five year later_

Jonathan sat at his desk enjoying a few moments of solace before his children came home, and chaos would ensue, it would become almost like a rock concert trying to understand and hear what each child was trying to tell him about his/her day, inevitably it would end in a fight because whoever he picked to tell first would be deemed the favorite and chaos would start all over again, taking a deep breath and calming his already shattered nerves, he stood up from his desk and made his way down the hall of the house to the last room at the end of the corridor, the door was normally kept open because of the heavy flow of traffic and kids going in and out all day but for some reason it was shut, he pressed his forehead to the door and took a deep breath and opened the door, stepping in and smiling like everything was alright.

"Hello Darling, How are you?" He asked, not expecting an answer instead he went to over to the bed lying in the corner under the bright bay window and kissed his wife's forehead, brushing back her short red hair and checking the wires on her chest to the Heart monitor above her head, nothing had changed her rhythm's had stayed steady for five long years, since he'd brought her home to recover.

Five years of longing to look into her eyes, to hear her laugh, listen to her cry, her calling of his name while they made love, nothing but silence. When he'd first brought her home, people had said that He and the kids were better off if he'd put her in a nursing home where she could get proper care but he'd brushed those neigh -sayers off and hired a 24 hour team of nurses, as well as a Housekeeper because when the Babies came home he needed all the help he could get.

He thought about those first days in the hospital to when He'd been told about her accident, he remembered Izzy calling up the office saying that Jennifer had hurt herself and hadn't woken up when the paramedics arrived, that she was being rushed to St. John's medical center and Izzy wasn't sure if she should go with Jennifer in the ambulance or stay behind with the girls who were blissfully unaware, He remembered telling to her wait with the girls for him to come home and how he ran out of the office, forgetting his briefcase, only grabbing his car keys, wondering what happened? How did she hurt herself? And what about the babies? All these thoughts running through his mind as he sped toward the medical center, when he burst through the doors and ran to the emergency room, he saw his wife being hooked up to monitors but she wasn't conscious,

The head trauma surgeon came out and told what happened, when she had hit her head on the floor, she caused a massive cerebal hemorrhage and her brain had swelled, they couldn't go in and reduce the swelling for fear of turning her into a vegetable, it would have to be fixed through self-healing, which would take time, how long? They wouldn't know and as for the babies, they were still months from being born, the only thing that could be done was to move Jennifer up to the maternity ward and have obstetrics make a decision about whether or not that the swelling in her brain would affect the growth of them.

The doctors were in agreement that the babies weren't in immediately in danger but that any moment, they could be delivered. It was all too much and Jonathan remembered sobbing in the waiting room and the doctors being sympathetic, offering to stay with Jennifer on 24 hour shifts until Jonathan could make arrangements for her care and of course the girls. He'd made the immediate decision to step down as CEO of Hart Industries delegating all roles to his VP, Phoebe Cates and suddenly his life was shifted to making decision that affected four lives. He wanted so much to believe that she would wake up after a view days back to normal, he would take her home to wait for the babies to arrive, that their lives would return to its wonderful splendor before this whole thing.

He would never know what happened to her, what made her fall down the stairs, when he finally came home to change his clothes, check on the girls and check e-mail he noticed the guest room door was open and when he went inside, it was empty of Eli's belongings. But Jonathan didn't think about it too much, his mind was on Jennifer and the babies

In the present moment, He thought of how wouldn't let himself cry in front of her, that it would seem like he was giving up and giving in, that if she knew he was collapsing, she wouldn't fight as much and so whenever he entered her hospital room, he acted as if nothing was wrong, he spoke to her like he did every day, read to her and made sure that everything was normal.

He looked back at that time as something that they lived through together, that in her mind somewhere she was finally able to rest knowing everything was being taken care of and so a month after being admitted to the hospital, he'd just stepped out to get some coffee when her fetal monitor started screaming and a team of nurses nearly knocked him over rushing into to her room, he remembered yelling asking what was happening and a nurse shouted back that Jennifer's body was unable to handle the babies anymore that in less than 20 minutes they would deliver his children, he wasn't able to be in the delivery room because there would be too many people in the room, between neurology, the obstetrics, and other departments ensuring his wife's coma wouldn't get worse when they opened her up.

He paced for what seemed like hours, wondering what was going on, this wasn't how he imagined this day, he'd imagined scrubbing up like he did with Emma and holding his wife's hand telling her to breath and grimacing in pain when she broke his fingers and watching in amazement as his private sanctuary pushed out three not so tiny miracles, He wanted to be there to cut the cords and count their toes and fingers , to see his wife tiredly smile and embrace their babies for the first time. He was so sad for himself but more for her because she wouldn't remember this moment but he would make sure to tell her when she woke up about this and how she would laugh saying she was grateful to be unconscious so she wouldn't have to feel three giant Hart heads passing through her body, even in her darkest moment she would laugh.

And so he worried, until the delivery doors opened and a team of orderlies and nurses rushed by with one tiny incubator ran by him, running alongside them, he had asked what happened and briefly looked down at the baby who had a mask over his face and a tiny little hat, he was scrawny like a baby bird and his eyes were covered , they said that this was the first baby born and that the doctors were still getting out the other two babies, a nurse said that at nearly 2lbs he may have been the biggest baby out of all of them, and that after a few diagnostic tests they could give Jonathan a definitive answer and just before they swung into the NICU, they asked if the baby had a name.. Jonathan said quietly that was baby Jack, his first son.

A Half hour went by and another team of nurses and orderlies came rushing by , with an even smaller baby, this time they said was his daughter, who weighed in at less than two pounds and barely looked like she was breathing, he stood there and wondered about Jennifer. He'd never felt so conflicted before.

The final team of doctors nurses and orderlies came running by with the final incubator and something that looked like a kewpie doll and this time, He had no strength he just collapsed on the floor and cried. The surgeon came out and told him that all the babies were below normal weight and that because of their mother's traumatic injury, there was a chance that they would all have some sort of neurological disability if they survived. One of the babies had been deprived of oxygen for too long while they were removing another and the damage was unknown, at this point if they made it past the 48 hour mark they had a good shot but he needed to prepare himself. When asked about his wife, the doctors wouldn't look him the eye and only said that she had done somewhat well. They knew she'd never recover from any of this is and he needed to face reality that might be burying his wife and children. He firmly said that she was too strong and that their children would pick up on their resilience.

He picked himself up and forced himself into the NICU to observe his children, he stepped to the first incubator and saw that it was Chase, he recognized the same wrinkle in the forehead as Jonathan had and Jennifer's fingers, right next to him was Aurora who was the spitting image of her mother, right down to the shape of her ears and nose and finally he settled on his namesake, the biggest of the three, Jack who didn't didn't look like his brother or sister, he had very prominent features, his arms and legs seemed almost too big for his body.. truth be told he looked more like ET.

For the next what seemed like hours, Jonathan sat between his children, just talking to them and telling them about their mother and how much she loved them, that she would always love them and that when she came to, she would spend all her time making up for time lost.

He went back to her room, where she was reattached to her tubes and monitors, telling her all about the babies, about how sure he was that Aurora would have red hair and the boys would have his dimples, he didn't tell her about the possibilities of brain damage or that Chase was hooked to a ventilator, he only emphasized the positive.

For days, he never left the hospital there was too much going on and he was sorry later on to think he completely forgot about Emma and Bailey, his focus was solely on her and the babies, eventually Aurora was the first to come around and the first baby he held, she captured his heart immediately just as her sisters did and although he wasn't sure, she smiled, the same smile her mother often had and he wished over and over again she would wake up, sometimes when he was able to drag himself away from them, he went to the chapel and pleaded with God or whomever, to take his wealth and give him back his family. They were more important than anything and he couldn't understand how this could have happened. If he had only been there, maybe he could have prevented this whole thing.

Jack, the oldest of the three, proved to the most difficult, he refused to breathe his own and more than often his little heart stopped and at one point, the nurses took turn turns using a blue pumping bulb to make sure that his breathing remained even for nearly 24 hours. Every moment Jonathan spend with Jack, he wondered how much further this would continue on, would Jack have the fight in him or would he give up because he was exhausted?

And Baby Chase, the youngest, he was trying so hard to fight the machines and the monitors attached to his chest, he wanted so much to be a part of his brother and sister, for nearly six months they shared a womb and it seemed like a piece of him was missing and in order to get back to that comfort, he'd do anything despite his limited mobility and Jonathan understood that, he felt the same way, it was the beginning of his bond with the baby. Always fighting to get what they wanted.

For nearly two months, Jonathan learned how to care for three preemie infants, he learned to change their diapers, check their monitors and apply specific medicine when it was needed and apply bandages to open wounds caused a surgery, especially when Baby Jack was rushed back into the operating for a hole in his heart and when his kidney shut down, he learned how to feed Aurora through her feeding tube , whom the nurses dubbed Rocky because she was a fighter and would try to use her arms to push them away when it came to diaper changes. It killed Jonathan that two of his children were gaining strength and Jack was getting worse.

And When Jack had a seizure, Jonathan thought he would have one too, one minute Jack was fine and suddenly the monitors started beeping and a small nurse nearly knocked over Jonathan to get to baby Jack, no explained to Jonathan what was going on but it wasn't good, besides himself, he wanted it scream but couldn't find the vocal chords to get the sound out. He held his breathe until Jack's seizure was over and the nurses said it was common among preemies.

Sometimes late at night, when the night nurses were on, they allowed him to take Chase and Aurora to Jennifer's room, maybe believing that the maternal bond was strong enough to wake her up but nothing, he would kiss her head describing the babies to her, the doctors told him a flicker of the eyes was a good sign but there was nothing but peace on her white face.

Both Chase and Aurora improved enough to be taken home after nearly four months, Jack would remain in the hospital for the rest of the year because every step forward was one step back and it seemed like there was no end to the little guy's battle but continued on fighting, gaining some sort of internal strength from his mother, Jonathan believe it was because he was the baby closest to her heart and knew her better than any could have imagined and that's what kept Jack fighting.

Life with two infants especially preemies wasn't the easiest thing to do on exhaustion and pure adrenaline but Jonathan knew that if he slacked on their babies, Jennifer would have his head, she would insist their children become a priority and that there was nothing he could while she was unconscious he needed to focus less on her and more on them and because Jonathan was constantly going back and forth, he hired a double team of private nurses to help him out, Izzy had much the girls to herself, forget time off and weekends, suddenly Bailey and Emma became her children and sole responsibility.

When asked where their mother was, Jonathan simply told Izzy to tell them that she had gone on a vacation and that she would be back soon, they were too young to be taken to the hospital to visit her and for the most part were kept away from their brother and sister for fear of germs, one nurse even referred to them as Jr. plagues because Bailey dared to walk in the house without taking off her sandy shoes after playing in the sandbox. Jonathan was outraged when he heard this later but couldn't focus on that at the moment so he let it go to be filed in his memory later.

Which was doomed to overflow at any moment there was some weeks he couldn't remembered if he'd eaten or even showered, he occasionally chewed on a candy bar in the waiting room but could never remember until he went to the NICU to gown up and was able to tie it around his waist without stopping, even the adult sized scrubs seemed too big for him.

But none of it mattered.

For nearly the first year of his children's lives, he bounced back and forth, he missed the first time they sat up, took a bottle without help crawled and would have nearly missed Aurora's first word had he not just stepped out the door and it was Chase's first steps that was the deciding factor in having Jennifer moved to the house, He'd missed nearly everything and it wasn't fair. He didn't want his children growing up thinking he'd abandoned them in favor of their brother and mother and so he had a hospital room set up, with a rollaway bed, IV poles monitors whatever the doctors suggested or required he made sure it was in the room. Every moment of the day was scheduled for her recovery, physical therapists, psyche neuro every department was made available to help , he was grateful to be able to afford the care when people sometimes couldn't , he would create a program later on in his wife's name to help other victims who couldn't afford the same care. It was what she would have wanted

And When Jack finally came home, attached to his heart monitor as a precaution, Jonathan could somewhat breath, he wasn't running back and forth he could stop and take care of his children properly which hadn't occurred to him when he was in the hospital that he'd be outnumbered five to one, despite the nurses, Izzy and , the housekeeper's constant presence, he knew it would be hard but this was nearly impossible especially given the sensitivity of the situation and their precarious health, a few times Jack had seizures and would be rushed back to the hospital and Jonathan would wish over and over again for Jennifer to wake up so she could help him, he was so conflicted and so worried about damaging these kids, he wasn't sure that he taking care of them properly.

One man can't do the work of a mother and he learned that lesson swiftly, he wondered how she had managed all those months in London, with just the girls and realized that she was Supermom, she knew what every cry meant, what they liked and disliked, what made them laugh and what gave them terrors at night, she knew every inch of their being and he wished he'd been around to learn that as well. He would make up for it though, he wasn't sure how until he figured out Dad day, one day a weekend that was just for him and one of the kids, they could do what they wanted wherever and it was all about them. It was consistency which was so badly missing from their lives.

Organization become key and not only was Jennifer's day was carefully scheduled moment to moment, the babies and the girls were as well. It had to be otherwise no one would be bathed, eat dinner or get to bed before the sun came up.

And that's how five years went by so fast, Jack had improved steadily, he still had seizures that required medication, Aurora was every bit the tom boy, fighting with her brothers and demanding to be one of the guys, no frilly crap for his girl, she was content watching the fights and then reenacting them on her brothers and Chase, he was the follower, wherever Aurora or Emma went he was behind them, imitating them and never allowing anyone to get in between him and his beloved sisters, Bailey was his wrecking ball, she didn't give a damn who she trampled in her way, she was the Rizzo of the bunch, their leader despite the six month difference between her and Emma and she made sure to tell that to anyone.

Darling Emma, his oldest, the most peaceful of the bunch, she was more likely to be found reading in the hammock than running amok among her siblings, never raised her voice and every morning she went to Jennifer's room, kissing her good morning. There was to be no negativity allowed and although she was the peaceful one, if she sensed any negativity she wouldn't hesitate to tell that person that they needed to leave, more than once they came to him and told him he needed to control his daughter but he simply said she was her mother's daughter and that if this what she needed to do, then they had better listen to her. She was the woman of the house after all.

Standing in her makeshift hospital room, he watched Jennifer for a few more minutes until the door banged open and tiny voices carried

"I'll be right back Darling," He kissed her forehead and went down the hallway

"I'm telling Daddy!"

"No way, your not ratting on me Chase Maxwell,"

"Then knock it off Aurora Jennifer!"

"Such a baby!"

"Hey!" a third voice chimed in "You guys are acting like nuts"

"But Emmy, he's going to tell on me!"

"Bay, Bay?" a fourth voice called frantically

"Jackie, I'm going to the bathroom, relax, " Bailey was heard shuffling to the downstairs bathroom, sometimes Jack worried when she left, she was his protector and in his world best friend so where he went she went

"What did you do, Aurora?"

"Nothing,"

"Not nothing when the teacher sends a note home to Daddy!" Chase, although he adored his sisters was considered the Narc of the bunch

"Such a baby Chase!" Aurora taunted him

"Only by sixteen minutes!"

Jonathan went downstairs, climbing over backpacks and jackets and finding his children gathered around the kitchen table waiting for their snack, Since was downstairs doing laundry, Emma was getting ready to pass out their daily cookies and milk

"Boy, you guys would wake up the dead!" Jonathan made his presence known

"Daddy!" was a collective call and he made his way around the table kissing their heads

"Aurora got a note from the teacher!" Chase announced proudly while Aurora stuck her tongue out at him

"What did you do now?" Aurora was a frequent flier in time out for being the bully on the playground

"Nuttin,"

"Aurora Jennifer," She knew not to test his patience, with so many kids there was damn little chance of a reprieve so she might as well confess

"I sorta shoved Mia Lynn into the coat closet but that was cuz she said we was bastards for not having a mommy, Daddy what's a bastard,"

"Nothing you ever have to worry about, you Have a mommy,"

"Told her that but she didn't listen,"

"Next time use your words, not your hands," he couldn't punish her for the same reason he kicked the crap out of some kid at her age for not having a mommy, she was simply defending her mommy in the only way she knew how. "Jack, did you take your medicine,"

"Whoops," Jack blushed as Emma pushed the pills into his hand, he always forgot and Emma would have to remind him and watch him make sure he actually took them

"Alright you guys have been cooped up inside for too long, go kick around the soccer ball and release some off that energy ," Jonathan opened the back door and stepped back as the kids ran by him

"Daddy, will you play with us?" Aurora called

"In a minute," He said " get the net out and start practicing drills," His kids weren't going to be like other kids today in front of the tv like a zombie they would get out and learn to play sports, each of them knew to swim, ride a horse and could play ball with the best of them. "Where's Bailey?"

"Upstairs, I think," Emma called back from her favorite spot on the grass, she wasn't into sports as much as she was the referee, she had to be sometimes her brothers and sisters had to be pulled apart to keep from killing each other.

Jonathan wondered back upstairs and noticed that Bailey wasn't in her room, normally the front runner to play soccer he wondered where she could have gone and called her name until she peeked her head out of Jennifer's room

"What are you doing, Bays?" Jonathan asked

"I thought I heard a noise so I came in to see if she was alright," Bailey's forehead crinkled in concern

"What sort of noise,"

"Kind of like muttering noise, Listen Daddy!" she leaned her head to the side and listened , this time he heard it too.

It was coming from Jennifer!

"Darling?" He whispered,

"Mom!" Bailey started to yell but Jonathan put his hand over her mouth to shut her up

"Pa, Pa" Jennifer spoke quietly and suddenly her eyes flickered open revealing those familiar brown eyes

"Oh my god!" Five years he'd prayed for this "Darling you're awake!"

"Who are you?" she looked around frantically


	5. Emma's in Charge

When the ambulance pulled into the driveway at Willow Pond, Emma wasn't surprised, it was usually for her brother, Jack when he had a seizure or when Aurora attempts to retrieve a ball off the roof, her brothers and sisters were frequent fliers to the ER but since they were all in the backyard and seemed to be okay, it had to be her mother. Something was wrong and she had to find out now.

She gathered her brothers and sisters together, told them not to budge until she came back out for them and ran inside, past Mrs .Gish who was standing in the hallway looking panic stricken and up the stairs to the hallway which was filled with EMT workers, talking to one another, she rushed past them to find her sister, just outside the hallway of her mother's room

"Oh my god, Em!" Her normal unflappable sister was shaking and her long black hair was pulled out of its ponytail

"What happened," Emma wrapped her arms around her sister

"It's Mommy," Bailey was so startled, she couldn't breathe

Emma pulled her face up and looked into Bailey's eyes, "What about Mommy,"

"I think you have to go see for yourself,"

"Are you going to be okay for a minute," She let go of her sister, who was unsteady on her feet

"Yeah," Bailey knew that her sister needed to know what was happening, she was first born and the closest to their mother and although she was only eight, she was very much the mother figure in their lives.

Emma set her sister against the wall and walked into her mother's makeshift hospital room to find her father on the bed holding his wife's hand but instead of her laying down, Jennifer was sitting up and she was awake

Emma was stunned, her mother was awake, what? For most of her life, she'd heard that her mother would never recover, that the blow to her head caused to become a near vegetable and that although her father held onto hope every moment of every day there was no hope but here she was, awake and alert.

"Mommy!" Emma rushed forward only to be caught by her father and lead out of the room, "Daddy, I want to see Mommy!"

"I know you do, Baby but we need to let the doctors make sure Mommy is alright and that she won't go back to sleep." Jonathan looked deep into his daughter's familiar eyes and realized that as mature as she was and how much he depended on her, she needed to be sure this wasn't a fluke for her own psyche. , "Alright you can stay in the room with us but you can't get in the way,"

Emma nodded eagerly and followed her back into the room

"Where's my father," Jennifer demanded

"He's away on business," Jonathan answered, not telling the truth, she didn't need devastating news so soon after waking up

"Who are you?" She looked around the room frantically, " Why are you keeping me here?"

"Darling, you live here with me," He wondered if it was just her mind getting used to being alert and awake or if there was another problem on the horizon

"But I don't know who you are!" She tried to get up but he gently pushed her down

"I'm Jonathan, your husband,"

"I can't be married, I'm only 17,"

Jonathan was confused and asked one more question, "Darling, what year is it?"

"1984,"

"Oh my god," she'd gone back somehow nearly 27 years to being a teenager, no wonder she didn't have a clue as to who he was.

Just then the EMTs came in and said it was time to take Jennifer to the hospital, she looked frightened as if they were part of the conspiracy to take her away, from what she didn't know, everything was so unfamiliar and strange, the man in front of her with the blue eyes who was holding her hand and a little girl watching her with tears in her eyes. She wanted to go home and this wasn't it.

"Joe?" She looked at him, her eyes begging him to let her stay and not the let the strange men take her away

"I promise I won't let them hurt you, I'll go with you and we'll get through this," he squeezed her hand

The EMTS picked Jennifer up and put her onto the gurney, she never let go of Jonathan's hand and they wheeled her out of the room, Jonathan stopping for a moment to tell his daughter to watch her brothers and sisters.

When the EMT workers carried Jennifer out, the kids stood by and watched as this stranger, their mother was awake and frantically asking for help. They wanted to run to her but based the fact that their father was distracted, they knew that now was not the time, that when it came to their mother, they knew that their father's devotion was everything and nothing was to detract from that.

Emma watched the ambulance pull away from her mother's bedroom window and realized she was going to have to explain to her brothers and sisters what was happening, She wished Daddy would explain it to them but she was the woman of the house and damnit if she didn't take her role seriously

She slowly wandered downstairs to the kitchen where her brothers and sisters were talking frantically

"Emma, what's going on?" Chase asked excitedly

"We have to talk, are we all here?" She looked around, Aurora was on the counter, Chase was at the table and Bailey was digging in the cabinets but no Jack, "Where's Jack,"

"Said he had something he wanted to show Mommy when she came home and ran to his room," Aurora said kicking her feet against the cabinet

"Stop that, Daddy finds scoff marks on the cabinet and you won't be able to walk for a week," Bailey said coming out of the cabinet with a bag of chips, "You want me to get him,"

Knowing her sister's idea of getting him was to scream for him from the kitchen ,Emma waved her off and went to find Jack, she wondered back upstairs which seemed so quiet after all the excitement and walked into his room.

Jack was a science buff, everything from chemistry science and science fiction and so he had all sorts of reptiles and creatures in aquarium tanks, Daddy was always bringing him books and teaching him about science, He liked that his son was interested in exploration and took the time to further that.

"Jackie, whatcha doing?" Emma plopped herself on the big bed and flipped through a copy of Boy's life that was under the covers. Sometimes he read under the covers after Daddy called bedtime and although Daddy knew, he didn't mind, he said he'd done the same thing in the orphanage and as long as Jack got up for school without a tantrum from exhaustion, he could do it

"I made something for Mommy and I want to show it to her when she comes home," His voice was muffled because he was in the back of the closet digging through boxes of legos and Superhero toys

"We have to talk about that, come out here and let's go downstairs"

"But my present for mommy," he stepped out of the closet, his blue eyes looking so sad he'd been waiting for some long to show it to her

"I promise, I'll come help you look for it after we talk, okay?" She was always very careful with him, he was the most sensitive and he took a lot of crap for having seizures and allergies from kids at school and she always wanted to make sure he had a haven at Willow Pond

"Okay Emmy," He took her hand and they walked downstairs to find Bailey and Aurora but now no Chase.

"Where's Chase?"

"Bathroom," they said together, Bailey took a sip of coke from a can and passed it to Aurora

"I think if we were all in the same room at the same time, I'd be stunned," Emma said putting Jack in booster seat, although all the kids were too old for them, Jack still used his because his balance wasn't as good and Daddy was afraid if he was in a regular chair and tipped over, he'd crack his head on the floor so Jack stayed in his chair and didn't mind

"I'm back," Chase announced and reached for a cookie

"Daddy's going to be mad you're eating Junk before dinner,"

"What makes you think he'll even be home for dinner," Bailey pointed out

"True, so you might have seen, Mommy's awake but something's weird,"

"Weird, how?" Bailey asked

"Like she didn't know who Daddy was, she kept calling him Joe,"

"Joe?" Aurora asked, no one ever called Daddy anything but Jonathan

"And she didn't know who I was either,"

"Why would she? The last time she was awake, we were two,"

"Do you think she'd recognize us" Chase asked

"Why would she? she's been asleep since before we were born, dummy," Aurora rolled her brown eyes at her brother

"But that doesn't mean she won't love you any less," Emma jumped in, she'd understood his fear that since their mother hadn't been around for nearly six years that she wouldn't love them the same way if she had been.

"Emma, what's going to happen now that she's awake, "Bailey, the most practical of the five

"I don't know but we just gotta roll with it, we can't show Daddy or Mommy we're afraid of what's next you know they wouldn't stand for that, so I think we should just act normal, it can't hurt right?"

"You do realize that once Mommy comes home, your reign as Queen Hart is over?" Bailey pointed out, she wasn't bitter about the fact their depended on Emma as much as he did but it would be nice to be able to relied on just as much, despite the fact that they were only six months apart, Daddy treated Emma like an adult and her as a kid, he would never admit he had a favorite among the five but Bailey knew that he regarded Emma as the first born and the golden child

"I wouldn't mind giving up some responsibility to Mommy," she knew that it would be a long time before her mother was ready to assume the Hart throne and in the meantime, she'd continue on helping her brothers and sisters

"Someone's gotta tell Phoebe" Chase pointed out

"Oh let me," Aurora volunteered, she hated her father's VP because she was trying to move in on their mother's territory and threatening to send them to a school in Switzerland, wherever that was. Phoebe considered herself their father's girlfriend but they knew that their father would never acknowledge her as that. But still she insisted on having dinner with them every week as some sort of psychotic family dinner and her father allowed it. Aurora thought evilly how Phoebe would react to find out the current Mrs. Hart was alive, well and ready to assume her role as the Lady of the house.

"Emmaline, When you are done with your meeting in the kitchen, I'd like to start dinner," Mrs. Gish stuck her in the kitchen door interrupting Emma

"We'll go to the library," Emma nodded and the kids stood up, as they filed out the door, Aurora whispered into Emma's ear

"Why does she call you Emmaline? "

"I have no idea but I'm not catching heck from Daddy if I correct her,"

Back at the Hospital, Jennifer was becoming restless again and the doctors were becoming frustrated, they needed to examine her and she wouldn't let them, it was almost a repeat of when their babies were born and fought the doctors

"I want my father!" She kept insisting

"Darling, please you have to let the doctors examine you," He pleaded with her

"No I don't know you!" She twisted away from him

"I'm your husband!"

"I'm only kid, why would I marry you?" Jennifer pulled the blanket covering her legs to her chin like one of the kids would do after a nightmare

"Darling, please just let the doctors examine you," he wasn't above begging

"No! I want my father!"

"Enough!" Dr. Kendall shouted, "Jonathan, come with me please,"

Jonathan followed her outside to observe Jennifer through a plate glass window

"Okay first question, where is her father? Can you get him here?"

"No,"

"And why not?"

"He's been dead for three years, he dropped dead on his farm after riding his horse massive heart attack,"

"Okay so we'll wait to tell her on that, as for her behavior, I know this isn't her, it's her memory lashing out,"

"Is It possible she'll recover from this,"

"She may, she may not, it'll take time."

"How much time, we have five children and they need their mother,"

"Jonathan, this isn't about you or them, this about her, she's lost five years of her life, right now and the fact she's awake is a miracle, we need to worry about her body and her mind, the rest will take care of itself."

"So what do we do?,"

"When we're done here, take her back to Willow Pond and treat her as if she's never left, never been in a coma that nothing has changed and the kids will follow your lead. Treat her as normally as possible, that's the best thing you could do for her. "

"Give her a sense of life with five kids" Jonathan suddenly felt 10 years older, "How do I explain to them what's happened? That the body of a woman's who has been living in the attic since they were born is awake and has no clue who they are"

"You may need to confer with a child psychologist to find out the best way, in the meantime, we're going to sedate her heavily, send her for CAT scats, MRIs, we'll do blood work every test imaginable to make sure she doesn't relapse."

"So what should I do," Jonathan would cut out his heart to help her out

"Say goodnight to her and go home, come back in the morning, see if she's improved and has some recognition,"

Jonathan nodded, he needed to go home and talk to the kids before Jennifer came home, they probably had a million questions.

"When can I take her home ,"

"Day after tomorrow if everything goes well," Dr. Kendall put her hand on Jonathan's arm," She'll come back to you, I promise,"

"I just want my girl back," He said quietly

"You will, in time," Dr. Kendall said before leaving him and going back into Jennifer's room

"I hope so," he whispered

"Did you find my father," She demanded when he walked into her room

"I wasn't able to locate him, but I promise soon," he couldn't look into her cold brown eyes, "I have to go now, but I promise I'll be back first thing in the morning"

"You promised me you wouldn't leave me, please don't leave," she pleaded with him, tears streaming down her face.

"I won't leave you I promise," He looked at Doctor Kendall helplessly

"Tell you what, We'll get you some medicine to help you sleep while we find a cot for Jonathan," she nodded for him to follow her outside

Jennifer nodded

"I can't leave her," Jonathan said the moment they were outside

"You can't stay here, we'll be in and out all night, look we're going to sedate her, wait until she's asleep then slip out, we'll make sure she doesn't wake up to notice your gone and when you come back, act as if you've been here all night?"

"Isn't that tricking her?"

"No, Doing what's necessary," Dr. Kendall nodded and walked back into the room, "Alright Jennifer, we'll get you both settled in for the night and then we'll begin the tests,"

She nodded, she was so tired and everything was so overwhelming.

"I'm going to ask you some basic questions, okay just so we can see what you've retained and what you may need to work on. " Dr. Kendall sat down

"Okay,"

"What year is it,"

"1984," She was confident in her answers

"And who is president?"

"Ronald Regan,"

"What is the last thing you remember?"

"Asking Pa if I could ride Bucky, going to the stables and riding, I guess I must have fallen off," She yawned and Dr. Kendall decided that she needed to sleep, she could answer questions tomorrow

"I think that's enough for today, we'll get you some medication and start first thing tomorrow," as a nurse brought in a cup full of little pills, Jennifer took them uncertainly and was soon asleep.

"8 am," Jonathan said quietly, kissing her forehead

"8 am,"

Jonathan left her, he should have felt nothing but exhilaration, instead he felt even sadder, she would have to work so hard to regain even the littlest memory of their lives together and she wouldn't even remember the fact that she was a mother. So much had been lost and he wondered if they would ever get it back.

When he came home to Willow Pond, he hadn't realized how late it was until he walked into the house and realized how silent it was, usually when he came home, he was knocked over by excited children begging for a spare moment. But the house was silent.

He knew he should go up and check on them individually to make sure baths and homework were done but at that moment he couldn't even muster the energy to take off his clothes, he somehow dragged himself up the stairs and into the bedroom, he didn't bother putting on the light and collapsed on the bed. He was so tired that he didn't notice how lumpy the bed had become and how the bed suddenly felt more cramped

"Alright, everyone out of the pool!" He announced as fits of giggles started

"Hi Daddy!" Emma said followed by the rest of her siblings chiming in

"What are you guys doing here?" Jonathan turned on the lights to find all five of his children in the king sized bed.

"We wanted to wait for you to come home with Mommy, where is she?" Chase asked squeezed in between Jack and Aurora

"She's got to stay in the hospital for a couple extra days," Jonathan smiled at his babies, they were all so different and yet when it came to one another, they were united

"Can we stay with you until she comes home?" Jack pleaded, sometimes when it was thunder storming out, Daddy would pretend it was camping and they would gather around him, listening to him tell stories about Mommy and the great adventures they shared together.

"Alright, but tomorrow night, everyone back in their own beds!" Jonathan turned out the lights, knowing full well that the moment Jennifer was home, they would crowd in again, he laughed to himself that maybe it was time for a bigger bed especially since they were getting taller.

"Ow! Stop kicking me!" Bailey yelped

"Well get off my hair!" Emma yelped back

"I'm not on your hair, oh my god Chasey, your feet are freezing!" Aurora shoved her brother and he shoved her back, Poor Jack was stuck wondering if it was just smarter to go back to his room, then at least one of them could sleep peacefully

"Alright you guys that's enough, we all have to sleep and the next person who peeps is going back in their room!" Jonathan ordered knowing what was coming anyway

"peep peep peep!" they chorused

"Very funny, now get to sleep!" Jonathan laughed

The next day, Jonathan left for the hospital before the kids were awake and arrived just before the appointed time. He met with Dr. Kendall just outside the nurses' station

"How is she? Is she alright?" he was so eager to get her home and finally begin their lives again

"She's doing good, all her tests prove that swelling is gone and that she'll have back her motor function and her legs will be back to its normal state in no time, her memory is going to be the problem though, she doesn't remember or want to remember the past few years. It's almost like her mind wants to rework the past,"

"How do we deal with this?,"

"The best we can figure is just go about your normal lives but include her, if you take the kids sailing bring her along, teach her about that, treat her like you normally would and she might feel like a guest at first but then it will come back to her, just don't rush her."

"Time, when she does recover the kids will be in college and I'll be ready for the nursing home,"

"It may take less time," Dr. Kendall laughed

"One more thing, why does she keep calling me Joe"

"Maybe you look like a Joe, for now names are going to be a nightmare, you might want to invest in name tags for the kids, Oh and one more thing,"

"What's that?"

"I want you to make a booklet of every day chores, cleaning whatever you don't have people for so she can understand your routine better,"

"We can do that, "Jonathan said with confidence

"Dr. Kendall, She's awake," a nurse poked her head in from Jennifer's room

"Great," Dr. Kendall finished writing her report and gestured for Jonathan to follow her

"Joe," Jennifer said weakly

"I'm here Darling,"


	6. Comings and Goings

After a few grueling days of physical therapy and speech therapist, Jennifer was allowed to return to Willow Pond on the condition that she return every few days to check her progress and that she would rest as much as possible and work on recovering her memory, she had basic cognitive function but no memory past the age of 17, she didn't even know that they lived in California or that she had traveled all over the world. And she had yet to be told of her father's passing , the doctors agreed that it was too soon and she had yet to be introduced to her kids, who although were excited for her arrival were also nervous because they'd become so depended on their daddy, that the idea of this stranger reappearing in their lives scared them..

But they did as their father told them to, put on their best clothes and wait for him to come home with her but not to immediately crowd her, to treat her as a new acquaintance which Aurora thought was stupid since she had given birth to them but what Daddy said, goes so she agreed and didn't even flinch when Emma attempted to take a hair brush through her long red hair, this usually ended in a broken hairbrush and the slamming of a bedroom.

The five of them gathered in front of the house with Mrs. Gish wearing the name tags that their father had also requested to which both Bailey and Aurora gave frustrated sighs at him. Jack and Chase had worked hard that morning on a sign for Jennifer, "WELCOME HOME, MOMMY!" in different colors.

When Jonathan and Jennifer pulled into the driveway and spotted the kids, Jennifer's stomach became knots, she was supposed to act like this was wonderful, returning to a place she couldn't remember, to people she wasn't sure she loved, Jonathan stopped the car just before the bridge because he could feel her anxiety

"Wow, the whole neighborhood came out," Jennifer commented

"Well those are the neighbors that live in our house," Jonathan smiled

"You have ..five kids right?" She struggled to remember what he'd told her earlier, he'd given her a photo album to go through but it was useless and she didn't want to study it like a text book

"We have five, Emma, Bailey, Jack, Aurora and Chase" Jonathan squeezed her hand

"Aurora…" She whispered, she remembered that name from somewhere in her soul but just couldn't place it

"I told them not to crowd you when you came home but I have feeling that's going to go out the window, just relax, you'll learn to love them all over again"

"And if I don't?" she asked not realize how deep her question cut

For once in his life, Jonathan didn't have an answer to that

The boys were jumping up and down excitedly waiting for their mother to emerge from the car while the girls hung back, they weren't sure what kind of reception they'd get from her based on the conversation they had with their father the previous night where he had warned them she would act a little funny but because the boys had been so excited about the idea of their mother waking up and finally coming home, he didn't want to deter from that with insecurities.

He continued up the driveway and stopped right before the carport, she took a deep breath and wondered if this was a mistake, if she should have asked him to her to the airport and home to briarwood where she could be taken care of by her Pa, where was he? He hadn't come to the hospital and she was sure if he knew she was awake, he'd have come immediately, He must have been in London doing some museum work and wasn't able to get away, and the first moment he could he would come to her.

She got out of the car slowly taking notice of the grounds, the beautiful flowers in the front yard , the large water fall in the further point of the yard cascading into the pond , below a tennis court next to basketball courts and a large pool. She couldn't help but notice all the toys in the yard, go carts bikes rollerblades baby doll carriages, it definitely looked kid oriented and overwhelming, could she ever really fit in their world? Could she really be a mother to five kids?

She took a deep breath and started to walk toward the kids, Jack couldn't take it anymore and broke free from his sisters and brother

"Mommy!" he cried running toward her and wrapped his around his arms around her waist "I missed you so much!"

"Uh hello," She wasn't sure if he was Chase or Jack and she didn't want to hurt his feelings by asking

"Hey Jackie, can you help Daddy by getting Mommy's suitcase out of the car," Jonathan said seeing her discomfort and knowing Jack was easily distracted

"Okay," he shrugged his shoulders and ran to the car

"Thank you," She whispered

"It's not him you have to worry about," He took her hand lead her across the yard to where 3 grim faced little girls stood and one excited boy was bouncing a ball…

"Well, guys, what we waiting for, let's get inside and get Mommy comfortable," he broke the silence after several minutes

The girls nodded while Chase took Jennifer's hand from his Daddy's and led her inside, She walked inside hoping to find something familiar but nothing, she felt so cold and alone.

"Here, Mommy sit down," Chase lead her to the couch and when she sat down, he hugged her neck tightly "I missed so much,"

"Thank you," She couldn't believe how the boys were so welcoming as if it were the most natural thing in the world

"Mommy, did you miss us," He asked his brown eyes searching for validation

She couldn't answer him because she wasn't sure, how could she miss someone she didn't know?

Jonathan saw the pain in her eyes and knew that her internal conflict was becoming worse and worse, he cleared his throat and told Chase that it was time to give his Mommy the tour of the house

"Come on Mommy!" He hopped off the couch and extended his hand to her

"Can we do the tour later, I'm kind of tired," She said and when his little face dropped, she felt like a horrible person

He walked into the kitchen silently, Bailey going after him, throwing her mother a look because she had hurt Bailey's baby brother, it didn't matter if she had been unconscious for five years or five minutes, she could have at least acted like she cared about them.

"Girls, how about we give your mom her present,"

"Why?" Aurora blurted out "She doesn't care about us,"

"Aurora Jennifer ," Jonathan warned her

Instead Aurora stomped up the stairs and into the room she shared with Chase

"Well, two out of five isn't bad, "He commented rolling his eyes

"I'm really tired," She said again

"Well then, I shall show to your throne room," he extended his arm to her , she took his arm and he took her up the stairs, they were nearly past their old bedroom at the top of the stairs when she stopped in front of the door

"What room is this?"

"Mine I mean our room," He watched her face, in hopes of recognition would come over her

"If this is our room, why are we going down the hall?," she asked

"I wasn't sure if you'd be comfortable in our bed with me,"

"The doctor said we'd have to stick to a routine and if we shared a bed routinely then that's what we should do,"

"Alright, " He opened the door and showed her around the bedroom, large queen sized bed in the center, chair in the corner, dresser directly in front of the bed on the opposite wall. He'd kept their room exactly as how she had left it. Her makeup mirror on the night table, paperbacks on the bottom shelf and her reading glasses propped up on the last book she'd been reading before the accident. He took her through the bedroom and into the closet, where he'd kept some of her favorite dresses and pajamas but had gotten rid a lot of her clothes, most of them were out of date and he knew that when she was recovered she would want to update her wardrobe.

Jonathan took her to the bathroom part of the bedroom, where the shower was, showed her where everything was and left her to take a shower so he could talk to the kids.

Jack was waiting for him out in the hallway with Jennifer's suitcase, he wasn't sure if he should go in but since Daddy was coming out, he figured he would just hand over the suitcase and go play.

"Thanks Buddy, where are your brother and Sisters?" Jonathan bent down to his level

"Emmy's room," he said nodding his head

"Come on," He walked to Emma's room to find the girls talking angrily "What's the meeting about, Ladies?"

"Nothing," they said in unison

"Come on, your mom has finally come home, why aren't you more excited?"

"Because she doesn't want to be here," Bailey pointed out, "She doesn't want to remember us,"

"It's only been one day, you have to give her more time and while that happens, we need to be supportive and help out Mommy okay," Jonathan said "Come on guys, we've been waiting for this for a really long time .."

"We'll be supportive, Daddy" Emma nodded and her sisters agreed

"That's my girls," He kissed their heads, wished them a good night and left

"We'll be supportive Daddy," Bailey mocked Emma, "God, your such a suck up"

Emma stuck out her tongue while Aurora threw a pillow at her

After checking on the boys, making sure Chase wasn't upset anymore, he told them he loved them and said It was late, they were exhausted and needed rest.

Tomorrow would be a beginning for all of them

Jonathan walked back into their bedroom to find Jennifer absently brushing her hair in her white night gown, the one she'd bought in France, he remembered the feeling of lace in his hands and how her skin felt against his, her smile and the way she leaned into him to kiss his neck, her hair falling in front of his face.

He took a deep breath and acknowledged his presence ," Hi Darling, have a good shower?"

"Fine, I guess,"

"Are you alright?"

"Why do you love me so much," She asked quietly

"Because your beautiful and smart, you're an amazing person and you make me a better person," he walked across the bathroom and kissed her head

"But how could you keep loving me for all those years? Didn't you feel like you were missing out on a wife that could give you anything more than I could have"

"No because I knew you'd come back to me and that we would have what we lost, we'd pick up from where we started," He answered her

"But didn't you want a mother for your kids?" She asked putting the brush down

"Our kids have a mother, they always have, You are their mother," He picked her up from the bench and kissed her lips

"Don't you find it odd to be kissing a total stranger who just happen to be wife,," She laughed, which was music to his ears

"You've never been a stranger," He kissed her harder

"Take me to bed," She said urgently in between kisses

"Are you sure,"

"Please,"

He picked her up and took her into their bed, to that familiar spot that she fit in perfectly and kissed her again …

"This is so strange," She laughed

"No this is feels perfect," He kissed her lips again," We've always fit together perfectly,"

"Oh Jonathan," She whispered, surprising herself and him

"You remembered my name?" He asked her

"I don't know where that came from, But please don't stop," She felt so good and his lips felt amazing on her skin, she knew he was intimidated and afraid he'd hurt her, but she had never felt such desire before and she never wanted him to stop..

The next morning, she woke up feeling like someone was watching her and when she opened her eyes, he was watching her , she immediately realized how nervous she was and excited to be with him, He made her feel like a Queen, something he must have done before this whole thing started

"Good Morning," She smiled

"Morning, did you sleep well,"

"Yes, very well," She reached over to kiss him again, she wanted him to make love to her again but he turned his body away

"I want to make love to you but I have a feeling we're about to be interrupted so you might want to put your gown on,"

She nodded, disappointed

She'd just slipped it over her head when she heard voices in the hallway and little footsteps bounding down the hall..

"Daddy!" two identical voices called

"Jack and Chase," Jonathan chuckled as he got off the bed and opened the door where the boys come bounding in and leaped onto their Mommy and Daddy's bed

"Mommy! Mommy!" They jumped up and down

"Hi Guys!" She had so much time to make up for and she wanted them to love her,especially since she felt terrible about hurting Chase yesterday

"Can we go to the zoo today? Please?" Chase begged

"You have to go to school," Jonathan reminded him which both boys groaned

"But Daddy!"

"Go get dressed,"

"I'll take the kids to school," Jennifer said suddenly

"Are you sure," Jonathan said over the squeals of glee

" Sure, The only problem is, I don't know where the school is," She blushed

"We'll go together, Mrs. Gish can get the girls to school and we'll take the boys, " Jonathan smiled, his identical to the boys, All three of them had the same dimples and a head full of dark hair, she could see a little bit of herself in them, especially in Chance's freckles and the shape of Jack's ears. Maybe this mothering thing wouldn't be so bad..

The girls however were a different story, they were a much tougher audience and she could understand their resistance to her, she'd lost her mother at a young age as well but she wasn't given an opportunity to redo things with her mother that the girls would be able to do with her now.

"Alright, Guys, go get dressed." She smiled and when Chase kissed her forehead, telling her how excited he was to show her off to his friends, she nearly cried.

The boys hopped off the bed and bounded into the hallway, Jonathan crawled back into their bed and kissed her.

"Hmm.. Don't start something you know we both can't finish," She smiled wiping his chin

"I know but I'm just so happy to have you home," he kissed her again

"DADDY!" Aurora yelled " I need you!"

"Duty calls," He smiled and rolled off the bed

Jennifer smiled and got herself dressed, she wasn't sure what she should wear so she put on a pair of Jeans and a tank top, it was already warm outside and she knew at some point she'd be running around with the boys

She was headed toward down the stairs toward the kitchen when she suddenly felt her chest close as she approached the landing, she wasn't sure why but it was like something was pushing down on her. Her breathing grew heavier and couldn't call for help.

"Mommy?" Bailey came out from her room and saw the fear across her mother's face ," Are you alright?" She ran down the stairs to Jennifer

Her eyes spoke volumes, that she needed Jonathan and she was afraid that her body was shutting down again

"DADDY!" Bailey screamed, Jonathan came running out of their bedroom and saw Jennifer on the stairs straining to breath

"Jennifer!" He called to her, "Look at me Baby, I need you to take a deep breath, you're having some sort of panic attack and I don't want to have to call an ambulance.." He took a deep breath in to show her and blew it out, he wanted to laugh it was like learning Lamaze all over again but she was sill breathing hard "Come on, One two three …Deep Breath in and Out .."

"Daddy?" Bailey looked on in fear

"It's okay, Kiddo, can you go down and get the pill bottle on the counter," He asked knowing that she was too young to be a witness to her mother's illness

"Sure, Daddy" Bailey climbed over Jennifer and went down to the kitchen

"Alright Let's get you off the floor, I think that might help your breathing," He helped her up, her breathing becoming less raspy

Bailey came back from the kitchen with a bottle of pills and a water bottle

"Thanks Baby, go eat Breakfast, I've got this," Jonathan took the pills from her, who stepped back into the kitchen without taking her eyes off her mother, would she ever get well? Or would this continue on?

Jennifer finally calmed down and took the tranquillers from Jonathan, putting them on the table, "I don't want to take those,"

"They might help,"

She shook her head and took one final deep breath, "I'm okay, I don't know what came over me though,"

Just then the front door burst open and a beautiful woman with long black hair wearing a black maxi dress and sleek heels came in

"Darling, are you ready?"

"Oh my god, Phoebe," Jonathan paled at the sight of his VP

"Who's Phoebe?" Jennifer said accusingly

"Who the Hell are you?" Phoebe shot back

"I'm his wife, and you are?" Jennifer stood up, "You know what, I don't even care.." She stomped up the stairs and into their bedroom

She felt so stupid, she'd actually believed his crap about loving her and he had a girlfriend the whole time. Her fury built up and she grabbed her travel bag, throwing in some clothes and the paperback off the table, she grabbed what looked like her purse, checking to make sure she had cash, she realized that she didn't have a current license or a valid credit card.

She took a deep breath and spotted Jonathan's car keys on the bedside table, grabbing them, she ran down the backstairs just as Jonathan was coming up the front stairs calling for her

Instead she stormed through the kitchen and into the garage where Bailey ran after her

"Mommy, where are you going?" She called

"Mom's going on a road trip for a bit, "Jennifer threw her bag in the backseat

"Can I come?" She asked

Jennifer was tempted to say no but she realized that this might be her chance to reconnect with Bailey so she quickly nodded and Bailey ran to the passenger's side and got in, they would have to stop for clothes for her later.

"Where are we going?" Bailey asked buckling her seatbelt

"To Maryland," Jennifer said backing out of the driveway just as Jonathan ran to the front of the house, not understanding the situation, Bailey waved goodbye to him

Behind him, Phoebe watched him and spoke angrily

"Tell me what that was about,"

"We really need to talk," He said quietly taking her back into the house


	7. Revelations

_I finally asked you to dance on the last slow song  
>Beneath that moon that was really a disco ball<br>I can still feel my head on your shoulder  
>And hoping that song would never be over<em>

_I haven't seen you in ages  
>Sometimes I find myself wondering where you are<br>For me you'll always be eighteen and beautiful  
>And dancing away with my heart<em>

_I brushed your curls back so I could see your eyes  
>And the way you moved me was like you were reading my mind<br>I can still feel you lean in to kiss me  
>I can't help but wonder if you ever miss me<em>

She drove, for what seemed like days through towns and cities, her goal to get back to the place that was so familiar she could find it blindfolded, head trauma or not. Briarwood was more than a home , it was a sanctuary, her haven with the horses and open field, the pond just beyond the property and the cabin that she would hide out when her parents would fight as a kid and later, it would be a secret place she would meet boys. She smiled when she remembered all the things she did when her father was away overseas.

She wasn't sure if it was her memory coming back or a dream but she recalled making love to someone by the lake, her body on fire and feeling such a high that even drugs couldn't create, a moment so magical and beautiful that it surely must have been a dream. The very thought of that moment made her blush and push it out of her mind and made her concentrate on the road even more.

They had driven for hours without stopping and Jennifer got to know Bailey, so much better than she would have had they stayed at Willow Pond, she found out her Favorite color, her favorite band, why she hates the second grade because Emma had the teacher before and the teacher thought Emma was the perfect child and Bailey is a demon.

Bailey told her about how hard it was for her daddy the past five years raising five children on his own and how much he gave up for them, including Hart Industries. Jennifer thought it was commendable, It didn't make up for what had happened in their front hall but she still listened. The girl fascinated her, she was so vibrant and aware of what had happened despite being only a year old when her mother went into her coma and she was very practical, her thoughts never strayed from topic to topic, she stayed on course until the conversation was exhausted and even then she still didn't move on.

Jennifer took notice of how different she looked than the other kids, her face was very tanned, she had a dark skin and eyes that looked deep into one's soul, she was only a child but was wise beyond her years. Compared to the other kids, she looked so different from her redheaded and brown haired brothers and sisters and Jennifer wondered why, could Bailey be a result of a one night stand?

When she wasn't chatting Jennifer up about something, she was observing out the window almost making mental notes, she was so lost in thought that when Jennifer touched her hand, she jumped a mile and smiled, revealing a large dimple in her right cheek.

It was a really good road trip even if it was under bizarre circumstances.

When they finally pulled into Briarwood, it was so late in the evening and Jennifer was exhausted, Bailey was passed out in the front seat, instead of waking her up, Jennifer got out of the car and picked her up, for a little kid, Bailey had long legs and was almost half her mother's size, Jennifer had to upright herself because of the unexpected weight

She carried Bailey to the front stairs when a an older woman with bright blonde hair came to the door

"Can I help you?" The woman asked

"I'm not sure, This is my father's estate, who are you?"

"I'm the caretaker for this house,"

"Where's Joe and My father, Stephen Edwards?"

"Are you Jenny?" The woman asked coming out from behind the screen door

"Yes, I'm Jennifer Hart." No one was allowed to call her Jenny

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, Mrs. Hart but Mr. Edwards passed on and Joe moved to North Carolina to be with his daughter,"

"What?" Jennifer nearly dropped Bailey "Passed away, when?"

"About three years ago"

"And You bought the house from ?"

"Mr. Hart owns it, he wanted to make sure that everything was kept up until his wife's return from wherever I guess you came back from,"

Jennifer wanted to cry but now was not the time especially with Bailey in her arms and a stranger in front of her

"Can we stay here for tonight and then tomorrow, we'll go to a hotel," Jennifer asked

"This is your house, you can stay as long as you want," the woman smiled and opened the screen door,"I'm Rose Nylund"

"Thank you for your kindness, Mrs. Nylund" Jennifer whispered walking into the house

"Please, call me Rose,"

The house looked as if time had stood still, familiar pictures on the mantel, her mother's piano in the corner and in the sun porch with her father's favorite chair. She sucked in her breath to prevent the tears from coming down her face and went up the stairs to her old room, the pink roses wallpaper was still on the walls and her academic trophies lined the shelves next her record player and television on her dresser

She plaid Bailey ontop of the old plaid comforter, taking off her pants and shoes leaving her only in a t-shirt underwear and socks and pulled the blanket over Bailey

She was just starting to leave the room when Bailey muttered in her sleep, "Please don't leave me, Mommy"

"I wasn't, I was just going to shut the door" Jennifer said returning to the bed and climbing beside Bailey who immediately fell back to sleep

She took one of Bailey's hand into hers and let silent tears fall, she wondered if her heart would ever be whole again?

_BACK IN LA _

Jonathan was dealing with fallout from Jennifer abruptly leaving and taking his daughter, he didn't want to have her arrested for kidnapping but he couldn't just let his daughter go, she was his baby not mention his responsibility.

And right now he needed something to distract him from his VP and sometime girlfriend giving him crap

"Jonathan, What is going on here? Who was that woman?" Phoebe demanded to know

"That was Jennifer," he said quietly

"The same Jennifer, who's been "unconscious?" She did air quotes

"She woke up and I got caught up and forgot to tell you," He said sheepishly

"Apparently, does she know I was planning on moving in?" Phoebe was angry, this wasn't a part of the plan.. her plan she had so carefully worked on and now it was over or had least it was altered, she still had an ace up her sleeve

"You saw her reaction, I didn't have time it's not something I could casually work into the conversation"

"Well, what are you going to do?" Phoebe

"I'm going to track her down and bring her home," he started digging through his desk looking for something

"You can't just take off," Phoebe's mind was racing if he left now he might never be hers again

"And Why not" He looked into her dark eyes

"I'm pregnant "

After Phoebe's bombshell announcement to him, Jonathan felt trapped, he knew that the few times they had sex, he'd used a condom and she'd mentioned being on the pill but a baby? He already had five children, he wasn't sure if he could handle another child.

But he couldn't tell her that, that would be the worst thing he could do, so he told her he'd support her whatever she decided to do and she gleefully went back to Hart Industries while he made a frantic phone call to a friend to help him with Jennifer

While Their Father was dealing with the fallback from their mother's disappearance with their sister, Emma gathered the others and told them what was happening , Aurora was outraged because once again Her sister was once chosen while she got left behind, it was often that way because she was the youngest girl and she hated that.

Jack was more upset that their mother had left again and Chase was just concerned whether or not Bailey would be coming back at all. Emma wasn't sure what to do, she wanted to hand this off to Daddy but After Seeing the sad look on his face after Phoebe left, she knew it wasn't the right time.

_Maryland _

After their arrival and the next morning, Jennifer took Bailey out to the stables, she still was trying to wrap her mind around the fact her father was dead but it just didn't seem possible to her, her rock her entire life was gone.

She was surprised to find out Bailey was such an equestrian, she knew immediately what her horse, Trooper, needed and she immediately climbed up and raced off. Jennifer wanted to climb up on one of the other horses but knew her balance might still be off, she instead watched Bailey, proudly, she felt her maternal instincts kicking in more and more.

A car pulled into the driveway just as Bailey was racing back toward Jennifer and when a man with dark hair and exotic eyes got out, Jennifer wondered why she felt a familiar pull on her stomach like she had known this person before and simply forgot.

Bailey seemed to know who it was immediately because she hopped off her horse, handing the reins over to Mike, who took care of the stables and ran to the man

"Papa!"

"Papa?" Jennifer said curiously and just a bit nervously..

"Hello Jennifer.."


	8. Reflections of

Charley Cooper's life had taken a dramatic turn after the Custody Battle between the Harts and His late wife's parents nearly 6 years ago. He'd finished college and had joined Hart industries in their International division, a position that he made his own despite his daughter living with the boss.

It had been good for them, He was allowed to be in her life without overshadowing and she grew up knowing that she had another person in her life that loved her, He was the extra parent without much of her day to day responsibilities which worked because he wasn't sure if he was ready to be a full time father. In his mind, he still had a lot of growing up to do but even with that thought, Jonathan allowed him to have Bailey anytime he wanted and if he could handle more than one kid, one of the other kids could come along.

Charley's only regret with this whole situation was that Winnie missed watching their beautiful daughter grow up, she was so much like her mother that it was scary, from her eyes to her hands and sometimes when she spoke, it was like Winnie was alive again.

He knew he'd never find another love like Winnie Crawford and he would spend the rest of his life ensuring her memory would continue on. In the Meantime, He'd come to Briarwood because Jonathan had asked him to, that Jennifer had taken off with their daughter and he hoped Charley would talk some sense into her, somehow into either coming back or at least allowing Bailey to leave with him because she needed to be back in school and back with her brothers and sisters.

As He pulled into briarwood, he noticed immediately that Jennifer looked different, much more settled than she had before the accident, that she was wearing jeans, a flannel shirt and cowboy boots, with a cowboy hat, she didn't look like the millionaire's, instead one of the good Ol boys.

"Hello?" She called uncertainly

"Daddy!" Bailey yelled, she must have seen him from one of the windows because she bolted through the front door and nearly knocked over her Mama

"Hey little girl," he picked her up and swung her around, she giggled gleefully

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Jennifer asked, this was a total stranger and he knew her daughter, how?

"Oh, I'm sorry, you don't remember me do you?, My name is Charles Cooper, Charley" He carried Bailey to the stairs where Jennifer was standing

"And How do you know my daughter?"

"He's Daddy, silly!" Bailey laughed, not realizing that the thoughts running through her mother's mind was that she'd done the very thing she'd accused Jonathan of, stepping out of their marriage, she felt her legs go out from underneath her and she sat down on the porch stairs.

"Go inside, Kiddo" He put his daughter down

"Aww Daddy!" Bailey was so disappointed

"Go!" He nudged her and she shuffled her feet as she walked into the house "Are you alright?"

"I don't understand this, we share a daughter but I don't have a clue as to who the hell you are!"

"Well, I wouldn't expect to you but I know what your thinking, we haven't slept together, ever,"

"Then how?"

"We have all night, let's go inside and we'll talk," He took her hand and lead her into the house

_Back in LA _

Phoebe's plan to trap Jonathan into marriage was moving along beautifully, his pitiful excuse for a wife had left taking one of the baby brats, if she had her way, that bitch would take the other four and leave Jonathan in peace with her. He deserved something better than that bitch and Phoebe would make damn sure he would get it.

By any means necessary

She pulled up to the front of the house in her mini coop, wearing a short leather skirt and tube top with a black jacket over it and her strappiest heels, she wasn't sure yet how she was going to pull off her fake pregnancy but she'd seen enough movies to figure it out..

What she didn't expect walking into the house was to be hit by a water balloon from the loft window and the sound of giggling

"Whoops" a voice said over the laughter

"I'll get you, you little monsters!" She yelled furiously and ripped open the front door, "JONATHAN!"

At the sound of her yelling, Jonathan left his office and looked down on her from the banister "What happened?"

"Those little brats of yours soaked me!"

"I'm sure they weren't aiming for you," Jonathan wanted to laugh, this was a new one, they usually went for bubble gum in the hair or egging car windows

"Damn it, Jonathan when are you going to start defending me to them?"

"Well, they've been through a lot and this is their form of rebellion," Jonathan wasn't sure what she wanted

"This is absolutely ridiculous, we are getting married and you still put them ahead of me,"

"Well we can't get married until I am divorced from Jennifer,"

"And how long will that take,"

All Jonathan could do was shrug

"Damn it!" She stalked off to the downstairs bathroom

Jonathan shook his head and went off to find his children, he had a clue where they were and went to Emma's room, where four of his five children were gathered.

Emma was sitting on her bed reading, looking exactly like her mother while Aurora, Jack and Chase were gathered around the window

"Did you see that, Rory! We got her!" Jack squealed

"Yeah but It didn't stop her, darn we gotta think of something else…"

"Shaving cream her car?" Chase suggested

"I love the way the way you think!" She grabbed her brother by the neck and squeezed

"Ahem!" Jonathan cleared his throat and the kids jump six feet in the year

"Uh Oh," Jack said quietly '

"There will be no shaving cream, no egging, no more water balloons, no more of these pranks, now I want you to go downstairs, get Phoebe a towel and apologize"

"But Daddy.." Aurora protested

"No Buts, go before I lock you in your room until your 50," Jonathan said "And what have I told you about the water ballons?"

"Less water from a higher point," Emma said into her book

"Exactly" Jonathan nodded as the kids shuffled past him, he started to leave when he noticed Emma's eyes starting to fill with tears, "Emmy?"

"I'm okay," she wiped at her eyes

"No your not, tell me what's wrong?"

"It's just ..When is Mommy coming home?"

"I don't know, she needed some time to gain some perspective,"

"She doesn't love us anymore"

Jonathan didn't know how to respond to that one, it seemed like that but it wasn't that at all, and he wasn't sure how to explain that to his eight year old "Of course she loves you, she loves all of us but it's been a really hard for her and sometimes Mommy needs a vacation,"

"Daddy, Don't lie to me, you said lying Is wrong and that's exactly what you are doing," At eight she was smarter than she appeared to be and knew when to twist the knife

"I'm not lying, She'll be back soon," Jonathan didn't believe his own words, how could he expect her to?

"I don't believe in fairy tales, Daddy so stop telling me them," She got up from her bed and left him alone, her words cutting deep, he looked around Emma's bedroom, it had changed so much in the past eight years, gone was the mural of zoo animals that had been painted before she was born and the white crib, her room was now bubblegum pink with a large canopy bed and Justin Bieber posters plastered all over the walls, her bookshelf filled with hard back books, she absorbed books like oxygen, he started to get up when a picture frame caught his eye, it was of Jennifer holding Baby Emma in the hospital, just moments after she was born, Her mother had an exhausted smile on her face but he remembered how her eyes sparkled and that all those hours of labor was worth it.

Jonathan's uncertainty fade and he knew what he had to do, he had to bring her home now and deal with the Phoebe situation afterwards.

Downstairs, Phoebe was attempting to dry off her dress with a hairdryer but It was taking too long and she needed to speak with Jonathan about their wedding.

A knock was heard at the bathroom door

"What?" She said nastily

"Daddy said to give you this," a little voice said

Phoebe ripped open the door to find a towel being waved in her face and a familiar scowl

"I knew that was you up in the window with the balloons," She said taking the towel

"Yeah Well If I had better aim, you wouldn't be able to dry off with just a hair dryer" Aurora said

"Look you little .." Phoebe was cut off

"No You look, my mommy's coming back and when she does, you'll be nothing but a distant memory to my Daddy so honey, give it up and move on" Aurora walked away

Phoebe was stunned that a five year old would speak to her like that but she regained composure enough to grab Aurora by the arm

"Your mommy is never coming back and when I marry your daddy, my first job as Lady of the house will be to put you brats in boarding school,"

"I believe that like I believe the Easter Bunny drives a Mercedes," Aurora wrenched her arm free and walked away again rolling her eyes , Aurora had no fears because in her life she knew the one constancy was that her Daddy loved her Mommy unconditionally and no one could ever change that.

_Back in Maryland _

Later that Night, Charley had left after dinner, having explained the whole situation leaving Jennifer feeling like her head was spinning and completely overwhelmed, she wasn't sure what to do. If she went home now, she'd be confronting her husband his possible mysterious and if she stayed here, she'd be neglecting her kids although She wasn't sure if it was considered neglect since she hadn't really been around them their entire lives. Her head was beginning to pound like the rain on the windows outside.

She thought about going to sleep but curiosity had gotten the best of her, Charley had left her with a gift swearing that if she looked through it, it would bring back some of her memories or at least jog it enough to make her realize what she'd missed, he said it was from Jonathan and he made Charley swear he would give it to her and if he didn't, he would be grounded from his daughter for a month.

It was wrapped in beautiful white tissue paper with a red bow and the tag read "To my a Piece of my Hart"

Just then a clap of thunder rang out, Jennifer jumped as the door burst in and Bailey ran in

"Mommy, Mommy!" She jumped on the bed and hid her head under the covers "I don't like the thunder!"

"Me either, let's ignore the thunder while we look at Daddy's gift," Jennifer said pulling Bailey closer to her, "Help me unwrap this,"

Together they opened it to reveal a large photo album, opening it the front page said "Our Harts," to find Emma's and the triplets sonograms, each arrow pointing to each baby "First Born Daughter," "Finally Sons! And a Beautiful Daughter ..Destined to be surrounded by beautiful women!", flipping the page was Bailey's first picture, Just days after she'd been found, She was laying on the floor on a blanket with tears spilling out of her eyes, Bailey laughed at how silly the picture was and they continued looking

The next few pages were of Emma and Bailey, on the swing set, playing with Daddy and the standard bathtub shots, with Jennifer put her hand to the camera to avoid being photographed soaked and there were a few beach shots.

The next pages she wasn't in them, because they were taken after the babies were born, Jack in his incubator , Aurora and Chase in their bassinette together, her pulling him close as if to reassure him about the situation, Emma proudly holding Chase while Bailey was holding Aurora looking disgusted because the baby had spit up on her. All five of them including Jonathan taking a family portrait soon after Jack had come home in the living room, but wrangling three infants and two toddlers wasn't easy as seen in the picture, Bailey was crossing her eyes, Jack was screaming, Chase was spitting up and Aurora was attempting to squirm out of Emma's arms who had a look of fear on her face if she dropped her baby sister.

The pictures moved forward to show each of the kids different personalities, Emma doing ballet, Jack holding up his reptiles, Chase playing with his race cars, Bailey playing with her Barbie dolls and Aurora showing off a set of stitches across her round face.

That's the one that made Jennifer stop and ask Bailey what had happened to her

"Daddy took us out to Point Doom to go swimming and Aurora wasn't supposed to go near the jetty but of course she didn't listen, she slipped, caught her face on the side of a rock and had to 15 stitches across her face, she was so proud of it and didn't even cry not even when the kids at school called her the Bride of Frankenstein, that was the beginning, Daddy said"

"of what?"

"He called it the revolving emergency room door, if we don't show up at least three times a month, they get worried"

Jennifer had to laugh because from the picture, it showed Aurora had no problems getting in with her brothers, the next few pages showed Christmases , Birthday Parties and missing teeth, the tooth fairy was very good to them, according to Bailey, for every baby tooth lost naturally without the aide of a greedy hungry sibling they would get 20 dollars and for every baby tooth pulled with help IE string around the door knob attached to the end of a tooth and slammed shut, they would get 10 dollars but they always split the money between the 5 of them, It made it easier instead of fighting over someone getting left out

They flipped through the album until they got to the last picture, it was by itself and Jennifer was in it, she was around six months pregnant, Bailey and Emma each had their hands on her belly and Jonathan's was in the middle, the caption reading "Eagerly awaiting the completion of our family"

Jennifer had to swallow back the tears because she never got to witness the completion when she would finally give birth and they would become a family of seven, for so long it was just the six of them and she realized how much she wanted to be with them, it wasn't until she saw that picture how desperately she missed them and how stupid she felt for running.

Just as she was debating on calling Jonathan, just to check in, she heard glass break from the living room window. Figuring a tree branch must have gone through the window, she told Bailey to stay in the bed, that she would be right back with milk and cookies and left her old bedroom, she had just stepped out into the hallway when Mrs. Nylund came out of her room, welding a shotgun

"Did you hear that?" she whispered

"It was probably just a tree branch," Jennifer whispered back

"There are no trees on that side of the house!"

"I'll just take a quick look," Jennifer said

"Here, take this just in case," Mrs. Nylund tried to hand Jennifer the gun but Jennifer pushed her away and began walking down the stairs, Just as a chair scraped across the floor in the living room, she started to turn back to tell to get Bailey and run when a figure approached her in the darkness, Jennifer screamed just as a clap of thunder rang out and reached for her, feeling her legs go out from underneath her in pure terror, she heard the person call her name

"Jennifer!"

"Jonathan!" She called back before everything went dark and her memories began to rush over her like a water fall and a shot rang out


	9. the place i belong

It's been said that when you've received a tremendous blow to the head, the memory part of your brain tends to run and hide until it feels like its safe to come out and play. In the case of Jennifer, her blow to the head once again triggered something that had been lost for so long.

When Jennifer hit the bottom step as she had done before, her mind raced back to nearly 8 years when she saw herself standing by the bar telling Jonathan she was pregnant but unsure of whether or not to she wanted to keep the baby, that what he wanted didn't matter and that as her right to choose, he needed to be supportive of whatever she decided. She never knew of the look of devastation on his face or when he pulled out a onesie that Max had left in the hall closet in a box, she never knew the box existed and watched him cry.

Time pulled her forward and she saw them bring Emma home on that cold winter day, on New Year's Eve day, Jennifer remembered thinking that bringing her baby on the day before the new year was a good sign. It meant that it was a new beginning for everyone. She remembered that it was so cold out and she was so afraid that Emma wasn't dressed warm enough, she'd made Jonathan grab a few more blankets from the hospital and wrapped her own sweater to avoid the baby getting cold.

She watched herself and Jonathan walked into the house, it felt like a million years had passed but in actuality was 5 days , they walked slowly through the house to the living room afraid that any movement would jostle Emma out of her carrier, she was so new and fragile. This was a whole new experience.

She remembered that Jonathan carefully lifted Emma out of her carrier and cradled her, she was so small and his hands seemed so large underneath her, he walked her over to the mantel where they had had a large portrait of Max and said quietly, "Max, I'd like you to meet Emma Edwards Hart,"

Jennifer had felt her heart swell with more love than she had ever imagined and she felt her eyes start to cry.

"Oh Boy, Mommy's crying, let's see if we can do something to make her stop," He whispered to Emma and carried her over to the couch where Jennifer was sitting, "I know, let's give Mommy her present,"

He handed Emma to Jennifer and reached into the coffee table drawer where he pulled out a blue box from Tiffany's, her hands were full, he opened the box to reveal two bracelets, one larger than the other, obviously one was for Emma and one was Jennifer's, Jennifer's bracelet spelled out EMMA and Emma's spelt out J+J's tiny hart in diamonds

Jonathan fasted Emma's bracelet to her tiny five day old fist and then to Jennifer's and for what seemed like hours, they absorbed those precious moments alone with their daughter.

Time pulled her forward again and she saw when she left with the girls, how she packed up and walked out of her life, her home and her marriage, what was left it. She saw Jonathan came through the doors expecting to hear Emma yell "Da-da" and Bailey's excited scream but it was silence, She watched Jonathan run through the house, calling the girls, calling her but no answer and she watched as the realization of her walking out of him finally felt like cold water all over, he had found Bailey's blue bunny under the crib and he sat down on the steps and cried, for everything he caused and lost.

It was like she was being sucked forward and she saw those moments that people take for granted, feeding the kids, conversations they'd shared over countless dinners, playing with girls and teaching them to speak and walk.

She wanted to see the moments she'd missed with the other kids, first steps, first words, playing and laughing with them, understand their distinctive personalities, to see them off to school and worry about report cards. So much time had been missed and now was her time to make up for it.

"Jennifer?" She heard her name being called and she wondered where it was coming from "Jennifer!" she wanted to open her eyes but it was a struggle.

"Jennifer!" and suddenly she felt her body lightened up and her eyes open to see Jonathan's blue eyes staring back to her

"Oh Jonathan," She felt her eyes being to cry and she reached for him

"Hey, it's alright," He picked her up off the floor and started to walk with her to the living room couch when he heard a gun cock behind him

"Stop right there!" Mrs. Nylund said pointing the gun at him

"Whoa! Don't Shoot!" Jonathan threw up his hands

"Oh my, Mrs. Nylund, this is my husband, Jonathan Hart!" Jennifer said stepping in front of Jonathan, she could see the mirror where the previous shot had been fired and glass had been shattered.

"I apologize for not calling first but with the storms, I couldn't be sure to get through anyway," Jonathan bowed his head trying to laugh, this little old woman was getting ready to blast him as if he were Bugs Bunny and she were Elmer Fudd

"That's fine," She narrowed her eyes and set the gun down "I'm going to check on Bailey,"

"Please do," Jennifer said as went back upstairs and they started laughing "Next time, send a text or something ,I'm not ready to be a widow, Darling"

"Wait, Darling,…you called me Darling, does this mean your back?" He pulled her close

"I am and I've missed you so much," She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

"Well, if I knew all It took to bring you back was a conk on the head, I'd have done it five years ago," He kissed her as if it were the first time for both of them.

After several minutes, they broke apart for some air and sat down on the couch, she didn't care that he was soaked or that he was risking both of them getting sick, just as long as he was there

"What made you come here," She asked settling into her familiar spot underneath his rib cage just below his heart

"Your Daughter, she told me to wise up and stop acting foolish?"

When she crinkled her forehead, not understanding which daughter since she had had Bailey here and Emma and Aurora had been with him in LA

"Emma, she's very wise for an 8 year old,"

"I can't believe my first baby is 8, it seems like yesterday she was learning to walk,"

"She's come a long way, Baby, She's very much you, she walks and acts just like you, takes care of all of us. From the time you left until now, she's been my little rock and I think you'll be surprised at how tough it's going to be for her to hand over the reins,"

"And the other kids,"

"Well, Jack and Chase are going to be thrilled out of their little minds, all Jack talked about since he's been able to is what he wants to do with Mommy, play on the swings, swimming all sorts of things,"

"And Aurora?"

"She's a tough nut to crack, you're going to have to work on her,"

Jennifer nodded quietly

"How's it been here with Bailey?"

Jennifer smiled, "She's amazing, I love her spirit and her independence, she's so sweet and insightful,"

"She's definitely our kid,"

"Do you want to go up and see her,"

"In the morning, let her sleep for now"

They sat in silence for several minutes, each lost in their own thoughts over what being back at Willow Pond will mean, major changes for a family that had been set in their ways for five years. They both wondered if this was the right step, her coming back into their lives as if she had disappeared instead of being in a coma. She was suddenly overwhelmed, it had been different before when she was only pregnant with the three babies, this was they were actual human beings who had wants and needs that she as their mother would have to be accounted for.

She wanted to cry hard.

He watched her face fall and realized that she was running in her mind, from the entire situation and he had to reassure her before she really did take her mind and body out the door again.

"Hey, it'll be fine," He tipped her face towards him and kissed her, "I've missed you,"

"I've missed you," She suddenly felt like her body was on fire and she had to have him right now," Let's go upstairs?"

"With the Old Lady and the Shot gun, no way let's find a room down here, I know where we can go," He stood up took her hand, grabbing a blanket with the other hand and lead her the kitchen to the back door

"Jonathan, It's pouring out!" She protested

"You're not going to melt, come on!" He pulled her outside in the rain through the backyard and into the stables, where her favorite horse, Sadie was being held

"Oh Sadie, look how much you've grown!" She remembered the last time she saw her horse, it was just after Emma had been born and they had surprised her Father by coming for a visit but Sadie was a black Fowl then and Now She was Huge and Beautiful , Jennifer went right up to her and kissed her on her wet nose, Sadie squealed in excitement.

"Oh Darling, I can't believe how much I've missed this place, Darling…Jonathan?" She turned around and saw he was gone,

"Up here!' He said from the loft

She quickly climbed the ladder and saw he'd taken off his wet coat, spread out the blanket and was laying down smiling

"Wow, I turn my back for two seconds and You plan a huge seduction, impressive.." She dropped beside him

"Five years Babe," He smiled

"Mmmm," She kissed him then laid down next to him "Do you remember our first time up here?"

"Oh yeah, right after you dragged me to that Midnight Showing of Rocky Horror, I still can't believe I let you talk me into wearing only my tighties and a pair of Buddy Holly Glasses, …as I recall you looked mighty sexy in that bustier and fishnets,"

"We came home with rice in our hair, covered in silly string and popcorn, we didn't want the night to end so we came up here and well," She blushed

He laughed and kissed her, she wrapped her arms around his neck

Like Two Teenagers, Hiding from Dad in the main house, they made love hungrily and passionately except in this case, it was from the housekeeper and their seven year old. It was hours of reconnecting, exploration and an excitement that had been lost and wished for so long, every kiss, thrust moment was as if they were making love for the first time and after hours, they fell asleep exhausted in each other's arms.

They would have slept longer but it was the sound of "MOMMY!" being yelled that woke her up

Jennifer jumped up and realized that they were both nude under the blanket, the loft was warm enough from the large bay window so the blanket was more of a cover up but she still didn't want her daughter to see her father and herself nude,

Jennifer nudged Jonathan awake, hoping that they would stay quiet enough so Bailey would go back into the house but he simply growled in his sleep and rolled over on top of her

"Mommy, Daddy! Sadie, have you seen them?" Bailey asked the horse, patting him on the head and feeding him a carrot, she waited until he was done eating before skipping out back to the house

"Jonathan, we have to get up," She whispered in his ear

"Hmm, do we have to?" he started kissing her neck

She crinkled her nose and they made love again, making up for lost time was so much fun.

Afterwards, lying in the afterglow, she had a burning question that needed to be answered

"Darling, now that we've made love, I need to know something,"

"Anything," He kissed her forehead

"What are we going to do with the Phoebe situation?" She asked quietly

"I don't know, she's like a leech, she was around when I needed her but now that you're back, I don't need her anymore,"

"I'll have a talk with her woman to woman," Jennifer would get rid of her one way or another, no one would ever intrude on their family again.

"I know you will,"

They got dressed, slowly and methodically just absorbing the final moments of last night and this morning, each wanting nothing more than to lay back down and make love all day but they knew Bailey would come searching for them again.

They walked back into the house to find Bailey sitting at the table, eating Pancakes with Mrs. Nylund who narrowed her eyes at Jonathan.

"Good Morning!" Jennifer said cheerfully

"Daddy!" Bailey squealed jumped down from the table

"BAY!" Jonathan yelled back picking her up and swinging her around while she squealed in delight "I missed you!"

"I missed you too Daddy, did you bring the others?" She noticed her brothers and sisters weren't with them.

"Nope I left them at home, but I promised to give you one of these from them," He kissed her on her cheek before letting her down to eat her breakfast. "Well, I think we better get you ladies packed,"

"Packed, for what?" Jennifer asked pouring a cup of coffee

"To come home," Jonathan looked at her quizzically

"I don't know if I'm ready for that," She quietly admitted, she was scared, she had felt nothing but love for Jonathan and Bailey but what would life be like with the other kids? Could she really take on that much responsibility so soon after being away for so long And She felt such a connection to Briarwood , That leaving again so soon felt so wrong.

Jonathan understood her hesitation and knew what would be the one thing to make return to Willow Pond.

"Come with me," He held out his hand

"Back to the Barn," She smiled

"No not that, This something that needs to be done, let's go up and change,"

"Daddy, can I come?" Bailey begged

"Not this time Baby but I promise when we come back, we'll go on a picnic!" Jonathan patted Bailey on the head and she nodded eagerly

After Jonathan finished getting dressed and was waiting for Jennifer, he decided to go to the rose garden and pick out some beautiful blood red roses

Jennifer had put on her jacket and was waiting for Jonathan when he came around the side of the house carrying the roses

"Oh So Sweet, are those for me?" She held out her hands

"No, These for you to give to someone," He said secretively

She nodded her head quickly and started to walk toward his rental car, when he stopped her,

"What are you doing?"

"Aren't we taking the car?"

"No, where we have to go is about 5 minutes by foot," Jonathan took her hand and lead her through the backyard, past the stables, the brook, around the Confederate Shed that had stood on the property for over 200 years and up the hill to the very point that overlooked Briarwood

"I'd forgotten how beautiful it is up here," She took a deep breath

"Come on, we can ponder later," He took her hand and led her a bit further to a large stone building

It was a Mausoleum , the sign on the front "EDWARDS"

"This was your father's last wish, to be buried on Briarwood property with your mother," Jonathan put his arm around her waist, "Come on,"

"I don't think I can do this,"

"Yes You can, it's important, you didn't get to say goodbye the first time and it's got to be done, I promise I won't leave you," He pulled a key from his pocket and open the doors

Stepping inside, She noticed the beautiful polished marble and the lettering "Stephen. H. Edwards, beloved by all, revered by everyone" and below it was "Savannah M. Edwards, For a moment in time, she held the world in her hands"

"Oh Mama," Jennifer dropped to her knees and began to sob, "Daddy, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to leave you and my babies, If I had known better I wouldn't have been on those steps with Eli, I would have been resting and preparing for the babies, It's my fault,everything is my fault"

Jonathan wrapped his arms around her and told her firmly ,"It's not your fault, I didn't bring you here so you could kick yourself, I brought you here to show you that whatever you think is holding you back here is gone and your Daddy wouldn't want you to hold onto that, he'd tell you what's important is back in California, I need you back home, it's time,"

"Then take me home," She looked into his crystal blue eyes


	10. Kidnapped!

_Three Months Later_

He'd expected to bring her home, she'd wanted to come home, made a big production of packing her suitcases, putting them into his rental car and told the house keeper to pack up the house for it to be sold later, she wanted to go home and make a fresh start for her, to become a better wife and mother.

Except the day before they were supposed to leave, she went out to ride Sadie one last time before Sadie was boarded up and sent to Willow Pond and never came back, he thought for a moment that she'd gotten spooked and just took off to clear her mind but when two days passed and still no word, he became concerned until he received an email from an blocked account, saying she'd changed her mind that they were all better off without her and that he was to file for divorce immediately citing abandonment, she'd never claim her rights to their children, basically she was signing away her rights as their mother and since she'd never really been around them because of the coma, it would have made no difference. The e-mail also encouraged him to move on with his life immediately.

And so he did, he was anger with her for leaving again and he didn't want her around the kids, she wasn't fit to be tide to be a wife and a mother and enough was enough, his heart broke too many times but it was time to move on.

But what he didn't know was that she hadn't ran away, she'd been returning Sadie to the sables when she was grabbed from behind and stuck in the arm with a sedative and thrown into a trunk, driven nearly 200 miles to the airport where she was transported in a body bag back to Los Angeles where she was again sedated for the next several days and eventually locked in a glass room unable to get herself out. She was unconscious for most of the time and wasn't even aware of what had happened to her.

Until late one night, she woke up from the darkness and struggled to figure out where she was, she knew she wasn't at home and that this bed felt so much bigger especially without Jonathan, she opened her eyes and realized that she was boxed in.

"Oh No, No!" She whispered quietly and struggled to get out of the bed but the heaviness in her head made it impossible and she sank back down, tears streaming down her face

Where was she and how did she get there?

_Back in Willow Pond _

Things had taken a drastic turn since Jonathan and Bailey's return from Maryland without Jennifer, the kids were angry and upset, believing Daddy had caused Mommy to leave again and wouldn't listen to any explanation and their silence only grew worse when Jonathan announced Phoebe would be moving in.

And move in She did, she completely redid the house, everything Jennifer had carefully picked out over the years was delegated to the garage and everything was redone in yellow and pink, making the house look like the walls were desperately crying for help, The only that remained of the past was the piano which Jack had thrown himself across it until Phoebe relented, swearing right after they were married, it would be gone .

She'd gone through Jennifer's closet and threw out her clothes, and shoes keeping only her jewelry because most of it was diamonds and gorgeous.

It was like a hostile takeover and Jonathan allowed it.

The power trip continued especially with the kids, who now had to share rooms because she'd taken over their rooms for her Office and Gym even though there was a gym down in the shed, but she claimed it was too far for her to go.

And the rules she created for them were ridiculous, they weren't allowed to go out and play after school, they were to remain in their rooms playing and not making noise, Only once a week did she allow them to have dinner with their Father, the rest of the time, the Nanny was supposed to serve them upstairs in their rooms. They could come out for food, water and bathroom breaks but that was it.

Dad time was gone, his time was better spent with her being swept up in her and seduction, it was like he was hypnotized

Their only freedom was when Phoebe would go out of town to plan the wedding, this lavish party to be held in one of the Best Hotels in San Francisco and her wedding planner insisted that she be there for every moment and because this woman was charging a fortune, Phoebe went.

Then the house would feel a little normal again, they could play and make as much noise as they wanted until the Porsche could be heard on the dirt road then they would scatter back upstairs as if they'd done nothing wrong

And gone were the days of jeans and crappy t-shirts, the girls were expected to wear skirts and alligator shirts while the boys wore dress shirts and khakis. Aurora nearly drove her tiny fist through the wall when Phoebe came sweeping through her new room that she was sharing with Bailey and threw out all her favorite clothes. Well attempted to throw out, Chase managed to grab the bags before the trash man came and hid them in the wine cellar.

All the kids were miserable and something had to be done, but at five, seven and eight there wasn't much they could do

Especially since they were being forced to take part in a wedding that they didn't want to deal with, the boys were expected to be ring bearers and the girls were to be flower girls, well just Bailey and Emma, Aurora did the dress fitting for her gown as expected but the moment it arrived at the house, she took it outside and set fire to it with the barbeque, her nose nearly burned off. Jonathan couldn't figure out she managed to figure it out to turn it on but when he caught her, Phoebe insisted on giving Aurora a spanking but Jonathan, who didn't believe in that type of punishment insisted instead she sit in time out and think about what she did

Which she did with a smug look on her face, quite proud of herself and it was decided she would sit in the back of the church with the other guests, because Phoebe was afraid she'd cause a scene.

Jack wanted to sit with Aurora but Phoebe insisted all the other children be in the wedding and not wanting to make things worse, he begrudgingly agreed.

Bailey, having returned with Jonathan after spending all that time with her mother, became severely depressed and refused to eat for days.

Emma wasn't surprised that Jennifer hadn't come back, she knew it was a long shot when her father went to Maryland to retrieve her but She was still hurt that her mother hadn't attempted to contact her. But she would never show her cards, she'd been taught from an early age that showing her hand too early would only backfire and to allow the other person to play out their hand.

Chase wasn't sure what was going on, he just knew that the once happy life he had known was gone and that Phoebe was determined to drive their father away, the thought made him so sad and he cried himself to sleep, sometimes Bailey would hear him and she'd climb into bed with him, promising things would get better, that Mommy would come to her senses and come home.

If anything, the Hart children became even closer, they had to. It was them versus her and she was winning.

For Now

_Somewhere in LA _

Jennifer's sedation had worn off and she was finally alert enough become more aware of her surroundings, the walls were heavy glass and the closets were blocked off by cement bricks. It was a bunker of some sort.

Except this bunker had a bed, a dresser with a lamp , a mini fridge and a television, all the comforts of home except this was more like being a prisoner of war.

She felt around the walls hoping to find some sort of switch that would open the glass walls but there was none, at least not in her sights. Her frustration grew and she kicked the glass.

"Temper, Temper," a voice said, Jennifer hadn't realized she wasn't alone, she'd been so preoccupied trying to find a way out, she hadn't realized the glass was a two way, Suddenly lights came on and the figure who had spoken came forward.

Phoebe!

"You Bitch! Why have you done this?"

"Because I knew if you came back, you'd take what was mine and frankly, we don't need that,"

"We?"

"Jonathan and I have built a life and you need to stop interfering!"

"We had a life together before you ever came into the picture, a family and nothing is going to change that,"

"Honey, you were in a coma for five years, how can you call that a life, I've built him up, made him a better man than you could ever imagine,"

"So what's your plan now? You can't keep me here forever, soon or later someone is going to realize I dropped off the face of the planet."

"After Jonathan and I are married, and those brats of yours are shipped off to a Swiss Boarding School, my boys here are going to take you on a little trip to Catalina,"

"You hurt my kids and I'll rearrange your pretty little face," Jennifer threatened her

"Oh Suddenly Mama bear is going to protect her lionesses, how sweet," Phoebe heckled her

"Correct me if I'm wrong but how can my husband marry you when he's still married to me, it's bigamy and I refuse to sign any divorce papers"

"I've already taken care of that,"

"You know, if you used to your powers for good instead of evil, the world would be a much better place," Jennifer said bitterly

"Now you just sit pretty and my friend Michael will see to your needs," Phoebe said before leaving the room leaving behind a 6'4 270 lanky man with a deep scar across his forehead, like it was from a lobotomy

"Got a crow bar, Mike or maybe a cake with a nail file," Jennifer said dropping herself down on the bed

Michael only grunted

_Willow Pond_

Jonathan was at his desk, clearing up some paper work before the wedding when he heard Chase and Aurora yelling at each downstairs, the kids had become so quiet that the sound of them fighting was refreshing

"Put it back!" She yelled

"No it's mine!" Chase yelled

"Daddy's going to be angry, put it away before He finds out!"

"No, Aurora it's mine!"

Jonathan walked out of his office and looked over the banister that lead to the living room to see them playing tug of war with a picture frame

"Hey, what's going on?" he called

"Uh Oh No, Daddy," Chase whispered putting the frame behind his back

"It's nothing, we're sorry we bothered you, we'll go upstairs and play quietly, Come on Chasey," Aurora took her brother by the jacket and led him up the stairs, they got halfway up the stairs before Jonathan stopped them

"What's that?" Jonathan asked pointing to Chase's arm around his back

"Nothing, something we found in a box but we'll put it back later," Aurora said

"Let me see that," He held out his hand

"Daddy, no"

"Aurora Jennifer…"

Aurora sighed and took the frame from behind her brother's hand, she pressed it frame down in Jonathan's, he turned it over to find the picture Max had taken of Him and Jennifer on Hart One, their plane, when she'd made a crack about being putty and they had stood up to kiss, Max had snapped it without them realizing. It was her favorite picture.

His too

"Wow, I had forgotten about this," He said sitting down on the steps

"We'll put it back Daddy," Chase said sitting next him "But first tell us about the picture"

"Your Mommy, loved to tease me about how much we loved each other and how we would do anything for each other. It was the best part of our relationship, nothing came before or after us. And we made sure to tell each other that every single day."

"Did she love us," It was a question that he'd asked himself and his siblings a million times but could never work up the courage to ask his Daddy especially knowing how much he loved as much as they did.

"Chase!" Aurora admonished her brother and reached across her Daddy to hit him

"It's alright, Yes Chase, She loves you so much, she loved before you were born and she loves you now" Jonathan's heart broke and his anger built, how could she just leave them again? Before it was out of her hands, now she had just simply walked away. What was going through her mind? She wasn't the person he'd married, he wasn't sure he ever knew who she really was.

"Daddy," Chase paused, his brown eyes wrinkled in confusion, "What's going to happen when you marry Phoebe?"

"Well, She's going to be your mother, "

"But we already have a mommy, "

"When Mommy comes back, you'll have two Mommies"

"Phoebe will NEVER my mommy!" Aurora stomped up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door

"Daddy, are you going to ship us to a boarding school," Chase asked quietly

"What? Never! Where did you hear that?" He wrapped his arms around Chase, who seemed so much smaller than usual

"Emma heard Phoebe on the phone, saying that once you guys were married, we would sent to boarding school and we would only see you at Christmas," Chase's eyes filled with tears

"That's never going to happen," Jonathan was appalled, "you guys belong here with me and that's all there is,"

Chase stood up, "You always tell us lying is wrong, then why are you lying?"

"I'm not, I know things have been crazy but I promise things are not going to change that much,"

Chase was every much his mother's son and when he shook his head sadly and walked away, it was like looking into the reflection

Jonathan looked down at the picture frame in his hands , "Damn you,"

_BACK IN THE BUNKER_

She'd tried everything to break the glass, using a chair, her foot anything but the glass wouldn't crack, she even broke a piece of the bed frame but nothing.

Her frustration was building and her curiosity about why Jonathan hadn't come to rescue her already, he always rescued her when she was in trouble. Maybe it was only a matter of time but until then she needed to come up with a plan.

She lay down on the bed with her hand, Feeling the coldness of the diamond band Jonathan had put on her hand when she realized that diamonds can cut glass.

Suddenly the door burst opened and Michael came in with her dinner tray, for kidnappers, they certainly fed her well, her once loose jeans were becoming tighter and tighter and the dresses that hung in the closet were a size too small..

"Here," He shoved a plate of macaroni and cheese with broccoli at her

A wave of nausea came over her when she took the plate in her hands, she shoved it back into his hands and reached for the waste basket by the bed and got sick

Michael rushed forward throwing the tray on the bed , pulling her hair back and allowed her some dignity

When she was done, he asked if she was alright and when she replied that maybe the cause of her sickness was lack of fresh air, he smirked and walked back out, sealing back the glass door.

She threw the macaroni aside and went to work, attempting to score the glass, she didn't want to press too hard to break the glass but also ruin her ring.

She'd made an indent when she heard the footsteps on coming down the stairs, she jammed her ring back on her finger and jumped back into the bed

"Hold her down," Phoebe's voice rang out

"What, why?" Jennifer asked frantically as Michael and one of Phoebe's other goons

"With the wedding this weekend, I can't be around to look after you so I'm moving you to another bunker,"

"No way!" Jennifer jumped up and nearly clothes-lined Phoebe trying to get past her, but Michael and his Buddy grabbed her arms and pinned her down and Phoebe jammed a needle into her arm.

The darkness came over her and she melted into it

_Back at Willow Pond_

Jonathan had feed the kids and put them to bed, Bailey refused to speak to him per usual and Emma took her dinner up to her room, Jack was complaining that his belly hurt and insisted on a Ginger Ale Chaser, which was jelly crackers dipped in Ginger Ale and Aurora and Chase ate in front of the television. When he asked them to come to the dinner table , Aurora rolled her eyes and ignored him while Chase gleefully jumped up and Joined his Daddy.

He was waiting for Phoebe to come home, it was hours past when she was expected and he was beginning to get nervous when he heard her come through the door downstairs

"Hi Baby!" She strolled through the door and saw him sitting upright waiting

"Where have you been?" He demanded to know

"I was with the wedding planner, Baby, perfection takes time,"

"And you couldn't have called?"

She knew what would change his mind and his tone by seductively taking off her clothes, except his frustration wasn't dissipating

"What did you tell the kids?"

"The Kids," The one thing that caused her to lose her sex drive was the mention of the kids

"They seem to think we're shipping them off, where did they get that idea,"

In her mind, Phoebe was mentally kicking herself, she knew she would need more time to get in his mind the idea of shipping them off, In the meantime, she removed all of her clothes and climbed into bed

"Baby, They misunderstood, I said to Fredrick that I thought we should spend Christmas in Switizerland, it's hard to interpret a conversation you half hear," She pressed her body against his.

"I guess your right," He kissed her lips and they began to make love.


	11. Five Little Harts to the rescue

_The day before the Wedding _

She was taken to a makeshift cell in the bottom of a dock, a place that was surely crawling with god knows what and handcuffed to a bedhead , she was pretty sure she would be killed in her in cell and tossed into the waters, cold and murky as they were. At this point she hoped for a quick death because this was getting out of hand. She was exhausted and every inch of her body ached, her heart most of all because she knew the moment that Jonathan and Phoebe were married, his love for her wouldn't be anything except a distant memory.

Along with that thought, came the fury that her babies were in danger with that woman, only added to her misery. That they would grow up thinking their mother tossed aside as if they didn't matter and that made her cry harder.

In her mind, she'd hoped Jonathan would discover Phoebe's plan and come rescue her, like he had so many times before, he'd ride up on horse and rescue her, they'd ride off into the sunset together to Willow Pond and start their lives over again.

But he loved Phoebe , she was young, rich and beautiful and had so much more to offer him than Jennifer ever could.

She put her face to the side and sobbed until there was nothing left.

_Willow Pond_

Getting married is supposed to be the most exciting day of one's life, two souls joining as one and starting on a Fantastic Journey but Jonathan was having severe doubts about the wedding, he wanted so much to marry Phoebe but something was holding him back from loving her completely. He was physically attracted to her, there was something about her personality that rubbed him the wrong way but it was something he was willing to overlook, Hoping she'd grow out of it, maybe becoming married would change her behavior especially toward the kids, who weren't warming up to her as much as he'd hoped and it was worrying him. Bailey and Emma simply walked out of the room at the mere mention of the wedding and Phoebe, Jack's face would drop because his mind was adamant that Mommy was coming back and it would hurt her to know what was happening, Aurora was furious and had taken to hitting golf balls across the yard, which Jonathan allowed until she cracked the garage window then she was dispatched to the gym in the basement to hit the punching bag, although the bag was bigger than her, Aurora was angry enough to still hit the bag hard. Chase wasn't sure what to do, his little mind was constantly racing and he wasn't quite sure what to expect when he walked into the house or any room whether or not there would be yelling, tears or a cold silence.

Home wasn't fun anymore.

They all needed a boost and Jonathan's hope was that the wedding would be it. While the kids slept, he crept into their rooms and watched them, he remembered his own wedding to Jennifer all those years ago and how he was so nervous standing at the alter, the butterflies circling his stomach.

He remembered being so jittery that Max had put his hand on Jonathan's shoulder to calm him down, , this was the moment he'd be waiting his entire life, although they had known each for less than a month, he was absolutely sure that was the best decision of his life. Nothing Before or after would matter as long as she was with him. His every desire was fulfilled with her, emotional physical and sexual.

This was the woman whom he'd eventually start a family with, he never envisioned five babies but he could see with one or two kids. He remembered teetering on his heels waiting for the big moment, she'd kept her wedding dress a secret but had ditched the rule on not seeing each other 24 hours before the wedding, She'd left Maggie and the rest of her friends back at the hotel and came to his apartment, the house still being set up at Willow Pond which Max was overseeing and stay so the apartment was totally theirs for the night.

He smiled when he remembered answering the door to find her standing in the hall wearing a trench coat and how skittish she looked, he'd asked her if it was raining and she nearly pushed him aside trying to get into the room.

When he'd asked her what was wrong, she blushed and dropped her trench coat, his heart nearly stopping, she was wearing nothing but a bustier and garter belt, with her beautiful red hair pulled back, she looked like an new picture of a pinup girl

When he hadn't said anything for a few minutes, she was worried that maybe he thought she was coming on too strong, she'd grabbed her coat and ran past him when he caught her arm, and kissed her hard and when he picked her up in his arms, whispering how much of a waste buying a white dress was when she was making a booty call, making her laugh and that night, although they had sex numerous times, something about this night made it even more wonderful. After passing out from exhaustion, he woke up to find her gone, a rose on her pillow and a note that said the next time they made love, it would be as husband and wife.

But he was getting anxious standing at the aisle, the ceremony was supposed to start nearly a half hour before and his bride had yet to arrive, he wondered if she had changed her mind when Maggie came racing down the aisle, waving to their mutual friends and nearly knocking Max over to get to Jonathan's ear

She whispered that Jennifer was being obsessive and wouldn't leave the bridal suite until she was sure her dress was absolutely perfect, Jonathan had sighed, rolled his eyes and told Maggie to tell his bride to get her ass in gear.

She laughed and walked back down aisle. After waiting another 15 minutes and Max repeatedly asking if Jennifer was really coming, she came down the aisle, wearing a beautiful strapless white gown, her face clouded by a long white veil, her hair curled and pinned back, the veil extended down the row of buttons down her back, it was a movie star dress.

When she finally reached the end of the aisle on her father's arm, Jonathan kissed her cheek and whispered they needed to work on her time management, she whispered back until he understood what it was like to be strapped into a corset, he could shut up.

The minister overhearing their conversation, said that from the way they spoke to each other, it was if they had been married for years.

Jonathan shook himself out of his daydream and realized that he needed to put thoughts of her away, it was time to concentrate on his new life with Phoebe. His emotions this time were uncertain , he wasn't as excited as he had been with Jennifer. But he was positive that would change when they got to the church.

_Back at the Docks _

Jennifer was exhausted, from everything and her body ached, her arms pinned above her head had gone numb from being in one position and she was sure if she yanked her arms down again, she'd ripped her shoulder blade out of the socket. She had cried so hard at one point, she had made herself sick and she couldn't even turn her body to throw up on the floor, when Michael came into check on her, he knew she was embarrassed about the vomit covering her body that he simply cleaned her up without a word and changed her clothes, she was so drained she didn't even care that he had to strip her down to everything including her underwear , she simply let him, she knew he'd never take advantage of her, he couldn't even look her in the eye.

After that he let the handcuffs a little looser, not enough that she could escape but enough so that if she did throw up again, she could turn her head to the side and vomit on the floor.

Every moment she felt like giving up and just hope for death, five little faces popped into her mind, her babies who needed their mommy more than anything and for them, she would fight to the bitter end to get back to them.

She leaned against the head board a little too hard and heard a pop noise beneath her skull, it sounded as if the headboard had come part underneath her head, she sat up a little straighter and using her back she pushed against the frame until it came apart allowing her handcuffed arms to fall forward on her chest giving her arms some relief.

She was still stuck behind makeshift prison bars but at least she could get up and move around, which was hard because her legs felt like jelly and when she moved forward, she nearly fell face first into the bars.

She took a deep breath and righted herself up again, and when she looked at the bars in a desperate attempt to figure out how to get past the high bars, she noticed there was a gap at the top, big enough for someone to slide through if they were 6 feet tall.

She stared at the top of the bars, thinking when she realized that she could make it if she jumped, it wouldn't be easy with her hands cuffed but it was a shot at escaping and maybe her only chance.

She climbed onto the cot, positioned her hands in front of her and spoke out loud to herself, "If I ever get my kids back, I swear I'll never scream at them for jumping on the bed ever," and bounced a couple times before take a leap forward and grabbing onto the bars, she managed to hold onto the bars while hoisting herself up on top of them, she smiled in glee and swung her leg around to jump down, she landed on both her feet and was facing the front of the bars when she heard a gun cock behind her

"Nice Try, Mrs. Hart" Simon, one of Phoebe's henchmen said

"Oh Come on, This isn't human, have a heart," She pleaded

"Sorry, Back to your cell,"

She made a move to hit him with the basis of her elbow in his nose when he simply picked her up, handcuffed her back to the bed frame and cold-cocked her with the back of his gun on the top of her head when she kicked at him.

_Willow Pond Saturday Morning Wedding Day _

Aurora and Bailey were sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast, waiting for Daddy to come down and give them instructions, Aurora wasn't a part of the wedding but Bailey was and They knew that Daddy would be down soon for his behavior lecture, the usual no pushing, shoving, hands to yourself and no picking at body parts until after the wedding pictures were done. They were still plenty miserable about the wedding but now it the point of no return and they were at a loss for what to do now, their worse fear that Mommy wasn't coming back ever was coming true. And that'd they be stuck with Phoebe for the rest of their lives. No Amount of Complaining to Daddy was going to make a bit of difference.

Suddenly the back door banged out and Phoebe came rushing with her wedding planner, "JONATHAN!, Where is your father,"

"Ran Away from Home," Aurora said casually while Bailey choked on her milk

"That's not funny we have less than 10 hours until our wedding and I need to speak with him," Phoebe said through gritted teeth

Aurora shrugged and went back to her rice krispies

"Brats," Phoebe stormed out of the kitchen nearly knocking over Jack in her way, who was carrying a juice box in his hand "Watch it! This dress cost more than your little life!"

"Whoops," Jack just kept on walking, she didn't bother him anymore as long as he had his brother and sisters he was a happy camper and settled himself in his booster chair

"What are we going to do? There is no way this wedding is going to happen!" Aurora slammed her spoon down

"Well what can we do?" Bailey asked wiping the milk off her face when Phoebe came back in

"Your Father is nowhere to be found, Damn it," Just then her cell phone rang and after checking the caller ID, She ran into the laundry room

"Something's up, Let's go" Bailey said pulling Jack out of his chair and with Aurora behind her crept into the laundry room, it was large enough and dark enough that they could hide without being seen, Aurora hid in a laundry basket while Bailey and Jack hid behind the washing machine

"What do you mean she tried to escape?! How?! Damn, alright I'll be right there, Stupid Bitch!" Phoebe nearly screamed, Just then Jack sneezed from the dust and Bailey covered his mouth with her hand, freezing and hoping that Phoebe hadn't heard that

"Whose there?" Phoebe called, this house was too old and spooky, she couldn't wait to get her hands on this place and tear it down.

There was no answer

She stormed out of the Laundry room, screaming Jonathan and the kids came out of their hiding places

"I think I know where Mommy is," Aurora said smiling

"What? How do you figure that?" Bailey asked, she was the realist of the course

"I just do, Jackie, Go Get Emma, we're getting Mommy back and stopping this wedding,"

"You realize if your completely wrong, we're being shipped off to a board school right?" Bailey smirked at her baby sister, she may have been five but she was far from stupid

Jack was already gone, When Aurora gave orders, he always complied, she was like a tiny dictator and he didn't want to listen to her wrath.

It seemed like an eternity before Jack came back with Emma, who was carrying a glass of milk in one hand and a book in another

"We are on a mission and you stop for milk?" Aurora nearly shrieked

"What mission, all Jack said was that you wanted me to come down here, I didn't think it was a big deal," Emma rolled her brown eyes

"We think we –"

"There is no We Aurora, this is all you," Bailey interrupted

"Fine, I think I know where Mommy is but we're going to need to do some, what's the word I'm looking for"

"Snooping, Nancy Drew" Bailey said

"Reconnaissance" Emma said

"Anyway, we need to stall Daddy and find out where Phoebe's going because whoever was on that phone knows something,"

"What phone call?" Emma asked

"I'll tell you later, How are we going to find out where She's going?"

"Follow her," Bailey suggested

"I think Daddy will know if all five of us go missing,"

"He won't notice too much if one of us goes missing though," Aurora smiled

"But which one,"

Just then Chase came in from the playroom, he'd looked everywhere for them and went into the kitchen when he'd heard their voices in the laundry room,

"What are you guys doing in here?" He asked innocently

Aurora's smile grew bigger

"No way Aurora, it's too risky," Emma protested

"It'll be totally safe,"

"What are you talking about?" Chase asked nervously

"Come outside and We'll tell you all about it," Aurora took his hand and led him to Phoebe's convertible

"Aurora, I don't know about this," Bailey said trailing behind them

"It'll be great," She said, not even believing her own words, she wasn't sure she could pull whatever she was thinking and she never wanted to hurt her brother.

Jack had been silent through this whole thing because he knew if he opened his mouth, they'd be using him as a guinea pig instead of Chase.

They walked out to the driveway where Phoebe had parked and stood behind it

"What's your plan," Emma asked

Aurora just smiled

"Oh God," Bailey moaned

"What? What?" Chase jumped up and down

"Simple, we'll put him in the trunk , he'll listen or jump out of the car, find Mommy and this whole thing will be over, easy peasy," Aurora shrugged

"Okay how are you going to prevent him from suffocating to death?" Emma asked

"Em, pull the stick out of your butt and just let the master deal with this," Aurora rolled her blue eyes, "The trunk has a safety latch, so that if someone ever gets kidnapped, they hit the latch and the door flies open,"

"What if he gets stranded," Bailey asked holding Emma back from charging at their youngest sister, Bailey knew if Emma was angry enough, she'd wipe the pavement with the five year old and now wasn't the time, they needed to stick together

"Ummm," Aurora hadn't thought that far ahead

"Here, use this," Jack piped up holding an i-phone

"Where did you get this?" Bailey asked

"Front seat of the car, It's Phoebe's," Jack had walked to the passenger's side while his sisters were talking and found it, it help that their father's future wife was a dimwit who left her car unlocked, "I also found a button to open the trunk without keys,"

"I'm not going in there, forget it," Chase had been thinking about it and there was no way in hell he was doing that, let his sisters do it because he knew if their father caught them, none of them would see the light of day until High School

"Come on Chasey, please" Aurora played on his love, He was her triplet and She knew how to work him like a violin, "It's for Mommy, "

"Fine," He took a deep breath, "but if this doesn't work, I'm ratting you out,"

"Deal," Aurora popped open the trunk, while Bailey and Emma lifted Chase into the car, Jack was look out because he was too little to help them.

They had just gotten him settled when Jack came running back "Scatter, Evil Witch is coming!"

Aurora closed the trunk and the four of them scattered to the four corners of the yard, Phoebe was too wrapped up in her Blackberry, for some reason she had a phone for every day of the week, She climbed into the car and peeled off leaving a trail of dust behind her.

The kids emerged from their hiding spots and huddled together

"How long do you think it'll be before they find him," Emma asked

"a Week's allowance, under two hours, if he gets away with it, Aurora, you're doing our chores for the next month, " Bailey said

"He'll get it done," Aurora hoped so

"We better get in and get cleaned up before Daddy notices," Emma said taking Jack by the hand and going into the house.

"Now What?" Bailey asked

"On To Phase II," Aurora said already planning in her mind.

_Somewhere around Willow Pond_

Jonathan wasn't aware of his children's antics, he was too preoccupied with his own thoughts and had gone for a walk by the pond at the edge of the property, he wanted to reassure himself that this was the right decision, His heart just wasn't sure what do with the wedding so close, he so much wanted to marry Phoebe but he wanted Jennifer's blessing, to know that she had moved on as well, he was so hurt he hadn't heard from her about anything especially their five children, maybe she wasn't the person he thought she was.

It was now or never, he could leave his past behind him and start a new family with Phoebe and never give his former wife another thought or he could stop this wedding and find out why Jennifer had left him so abruptly and with only an e-mail to end a decade long marriage, his rage no longer there, just a dull ache.

Time to Move Forward, Phoebe would be his wife and his children would have what they had desired since they were born, a mother.

He walked to the house with determination and clarity.

_At the docks _

Jennifer had come to after the blow to her head, she wondered how many more of them could she stand before permanent damage set in or she'd actually die, at this point she hoped for death because she was tired of waiting and the beatings, her every inch ached and she was sure her face would never look the same again, the black eyes and broken bones she was sure she had would distort her once beautiful face.

It was the sound of heels clacking that made her sit up taller, no time for weakness when it came to this bitch

Phoebe's form appeared before her, her face caked heavily in makeup and her hair pulled back in a bun, she was wearing black jeans and a tank top over a black jacket, around her neck a diamond pendant Jennifer recognized as hers that Jonathan had given her one anniversary.

"So, you thought you could pull a Houdini on my wedding day? Oh Honey, you really need to work on your timing."

"He'll never love you!" Jennifer screamed

"And He'll never love you, I believe this is what they call an impasse," Phoebe smiled, "Boys, "

Michael and Simon stepped forward from the shadows, guns drawn

"Kill her," Phoebe ordered

"Wait, Uh why don't we wait until after your wedding then you won't have to worry about another escape attempt," Michael said, He was uneasy about the actually killing, he was more of a knuckbreaker than a murderer

Phoebe narrowed her eyes "Your right, that way I could enjoy it especially when you dump her body into the gator filled water. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a wedding to prepare for," with Phoebe left followed by her two henchmen

Jennifer's eyes filled with tears, this is it, Jonathan's love for her was officially over , he'd never sweep her in his arms again, whisper how much he loved her, twirled her around the living room to Glen Miller. What they had would never be and he'd make new memories with his new wife.

"Mommy?" a little voice called

Jennifer was sure she was hearing things especially with her eyes closed so tight

"Mommy?" the little voice called again

She opened her eyes and saw her own child in front of her, the little brown haired blue eyed boy she'd missed giving birth to, was standing in front of her, wearing a smile, the coy smile of his Daddy

"Chase! What are you doing here?" her eyes widening

"I'm here to rescue you!" He jumped up and down

"That's very sweet Darling but I don't think you can help Mommy out of this one," Her heart swelled, he'd only known her for a brief time but he was willing to help out when she needed it the most.

"Even with these?" He held up a set of keys

"You little Minx!, Where did you get them?" She was surprised but not really, he was his father's son after all

"It pays to be small," He struggled to reach the lock on the bars but he was so small, his fingertips barely grazed the top where the inside of the lock was , She was still handcuffed to the bed so she wasn't able to get the keys through the bars, her elation deflated once again.

"Hmm," He stood back and observed the bars when he noticed the gap at the top of the bars "I can climb over and give you the keys"

"Baby, it's too high and you might get hurt, It's a wonderful thought though," She could see the determination in his eyes and knew no matter what she said, he'd try his damnest to help her.

He tossed the keys through the bars, which landed just beyond her cot and shimmied up the bars, she watched him carefully as if she could help but he didn't need it, he'd been on enough monkey bars and Emma had taught him the secret to holding on to a climbing wall, curl your toes around the bars in your sneakers and they prevent you from slipping, he scooted as if he were a monkey and soon he was at the top but once he reached the open area where the bars separated from the walls, he became nervous

"I'm scared,"

"I'm right here and I promise I won't let you get hurt," She knew that her words would give him confidence, she didn't want him to make the possible six foot drop but if it meant her survival then she'd have to risk, "Ready, 1 2 3!"

He jumped with ease and stood up proudly "I did it Mommy!"

"You did so good Baby!" She praised him and He suddenly moved as if they knew they were on a time constraint, he quickly located the lock for the handcuffs and set her aching arms free, as soon as he did, she sat up and kissed his face

"Oh Mom," He wiggled away from her

"Sorry Baby," She would kiss his face a million times if he would let her and she planned to as soon as they were out of here and at a safe distance, She went to the bars and after Chase handed her the keys, she tried every key on the ring until she reached the last key and it worked, the clicking noise was loud but not loud enough to draw attention

She set foot outside her cell for the first time in months and had her first real taste of freedom , it would be fleeting because she knew they'd be in deep trouble if they got caught, she took Chase's hand but not before grabbing a piece of the headboard as a weapon, she wasn't sure if she'd actually use it but just in case.

They'd barely made it out of the cell When Simon came back

"HEY! How did you get out?!" He seemed genuinely stunned to see her out of her cell, she didn't respond instead swung the headboard piece and connected with the side of his head

"Don't ever let me catch you doing that to anyone!" She warned her son, who was standing with his eyes wide open, "Let's go," She picked him up and after taking the car keys out of Simon's pocket

They raced to Simon's car, Jennifer hoping against hope she wasn't too late

_The Church _

Aurora, Bailey Emma and Jack were nervous, they'd hadn't heard from Chase about whether or not he'd found their mother and the wedding was getting closer and closer, When Daddy had come downstairs to make sure they were all dressed and noticed Chase was missing, he'd interrogated them and somehow they all came up with the story that he'd gone off with Phoebe to do last minute wedding thing and that they'd meet them at the Church except when Jonathan arrived expecting to see his son, he was concerned and went to his bride

He knocked on the Bridal Suite Door

"Come in," Phoebe's sister Georgia answered, Phoebe was getting into her gown and hidden so he wasn't technically breaking tradition

"Is Chase in Here?" Jonathan asked

"Who?" Georgia hadn't yet mastered the names of the kids, there were so many it was difficult to keep track.

"My son, Chase, Phoebe, is he with you?" He called to his future bride

"Why would you think he'd be with me?" She answered snottily

"Well the Kids said he was with you,"

"No I haven't seen him, you'd better get out of here, we're going to start soon,"

"I can't get married without making sure all the kids are there," Jonathan protested

"He's probably hiding somewhere around here, and come out when it's time for the reception," She dismissed him, "Ask the other four again,"

"Maybe," he shrugged he knew his kids would never lie to him and he was becoming uneasy

He left her in the bridal suite and went to where the Grooms suite where the kids were hanging out

"Alright, Spill it, where is he?" Jonathan asked

"Where's Who Daddy?" Emma asked innocently

"Don't play games with me, Little Girl, I need to know where Chase is," He demanded to know

"Daddy, honestly we don't know where he is," Bailey answered and Jonathan stalked out of the groom's suite

"On to Phase Two," Aurora said smirking evilly

"I'll get the bride, You Stall the Groom," Bailey said as they broke apart

"How am I supposed to Stall Him?" Emma asked

"You saw the Graduate, Use it," Aurora said looking around for witnesses

"If Mommy knew what we were up to, she'd skin us alive," Jack said going with Bailey

Bailey and Jack ran to the back of the church where they immediately bumped into Bailey's real father, Charley

"Hey, what's the rush, kids?" He bent down to kiss his daughter on the head

"Dad wanted us to make sure you did the errand you were supposed to," Bailey knew that lying was wrong but this was no time for morals.

"What errand?" Charley would have remembered if Jonathan had asked him to do something then again he'd been so swamped lately, he could have written it down and totally forgotten about it

"Daddy wanted you to make sure that the Caterers were going to the house and not the hall, because the hall was doubled booked I guess," Bailey smiled sweetly

"Oh Right," Charley took out his cell phone and called the caters, "Hi I'm calling on behalf of the Cates Hart Wedding," He wondered outside and finished up his conversation with the caterers.

"How is that stalling the wedding," Jack asked

"You'll see," Bailey smiled

While Bailey and Jack were busy with Charley and the manipulation of the caterers, Aurora and Emma were planning on sabotaging the bride

Emma knocked on the bridal suite door

"WHAT?!" Phoebe yelled

"Umm, Daddy sent us in give you a present," Emma said

"That wonderful man, leave it on the table and get out," Phoebe said behind a curtain

"Sure," Emma said opening the door while Aurora crept in behind her, they looked around for something they could sabotage when Aurora spotted Phoebe's veil on the couch

"Aurora, no that's going too far," Emma whispered

"No, it's not," Aurora spotted a pair of manicure scissors on the vanity table and grabbed both, running out the door with Emma behind her, slamming the door behind her

"It's time for the piece de resistance," Georgia announced a few moments later, "The veil, Phoebe where did you leave it?"

"I left it on the couch,"

"It's not there," Georgia searched high and low

"Oh my god those brats!" Phoebe ran out of the bridal suite wearing half her dress, the corset part of her dress still needing to be laced up, "JONATHAN," She screamed

"What?" Jonathan, who was standing in the church greeting some early guests, heard her scream and came running, "What's the matter?"

"Those brats of yours have stolen my veil!" She shrieked

"I sincerely doubt that, They've been in the Groom Suite the entire time," He tried to calm her down but her face was red and she was making a scene

"Then why were they dropping off the gift you left me in the suite,"

"What Gift?"

"See? They lie and you let them get away with, Boy I tell you when I get my hands on those brats, they'll never sit down again,"

"You Touch One Hand on my kids Heads and You'll never walk straight again," a voice said from behind, She'd broken numerous speeding violations to get here and she was going to be damned if she would go away empty handed

"Jennifer, where did you.." Jonathan was speechless, he looked at the bruises on her arms and dirty face, the rumpled clothing and messy hair and knew she hadn't just run off on him, she'd been taken.

"It's a long story, Jonathan, suffice it to say your bride has a lot of explaining to do," Jennifer said

"Who are you going to believe, Jonathan, the woman who has stood by you all these months and is carrying your child or some bitter ex-wife who decided to ruin the happiest day of your life," Phoebe said smirking

Jonathan couldn't speak, his mind was racing, She was back and his heart felt whole again

"Daddy, the Minister wants to speak to you," Aurora said running up to Jonathan behind her the rest of the kids,

"Do you mind, we're speaking here," Phoebe snapped at Aurora, "It's time someone teach you some manners," She went to slap Aurora who coward behind her father when Jennifer grabbed her wrist

"I warned you," And popped Phoebe in the eye, "Well, I doubt that'll make the cover of modern bride,"

Jonathan's head was spinning, both at the sight of his ex-wife and the fact that his soon to be bride had threatened to harm one of his kids, "This wedding is off,"

"But the baby.." Phoebe whimpered as she struggled to stand up, as she did, Jack stepped on what was left of her dress causing it to rip at the seams, revealing a pregnancy pillow

"You lied to me, You've lied to me about everything, I'll never trust you again," Jonathan said "If you don't leave now, I swear I'll throw you in Jail for kidnapping, child abuse and other things,"

"It's not over, not in the slightest, one day I'll get you ALL!" Phoebe screamed storming off

"Well, I suppose I should tell everyone that the wedding is off," Jonathan said walking away

"It doesn't have to be, you know," Jennifer said

"But the divorce papers," Jonathan narrowed his forehead

"I never agreed to a divorce," She nodded, "She probably forged my signature, piece of…"

"Mommy!" Chase admonished

"Sorry, well We have two choices, we can go our separate ways and figure out how to raise this wild bunch apart or …" Jennifer trailed off

"We can put this crazy family back together," Jonathan finished her sentence, it felt like old times again,

"It's up to you," Jennifer smiled

"Oh for God Sakes, Mom! Dad!" All the kids said in unison

Jennifer laughed as Jonathan took her hand, "Jennifer Grace Hart, will you marry me again,"

"I've been waiting for so long to hear those words, of course," She smiled "But uh I don't want her ring, I'd rather have my old one back,"

"Somewhere behind the walls at Willow Pond," Jonathan said blushing, he'd thrown it behind the dresser after she'd disappeared

"No, Daddy here it is," Bailey piped up, she reached into her dress pocket and pulled out the worn wedding ring in scripted "My Hart, Your Hart Our Hart,"

Jonathan laughed and palmed the ring "Well, we have a ring, a minister and a church full of people, let's do it"

"Now? I look awful, your pyscho girlfriend put me through the wringer literally," Jennifer looked down at her body caked in dirt, mud and god knows what else, she felt like she wanted to go home and scrub for a month

"Your Gorgeous," He pulled her forward and kissed her, all those old familiar feelings come back as if they'd never left, how could he think she'd leave him? He must have been out of his head

"Keep Kissing me like that and we can absolutely forget the past few months," She whispered

"Ahem, are we having a wedding or not?" the Minister asked

"Yes. of course, I'd like you to marry me to this woman, Jennifer Edwards please," Jonathan said taking Jennifer's hand and led her down the aisle to the front of the church

Behind them, Five Children let out whoops of Joy and excitement that they'd actually pulled off getting their parents back together.

"Who's a Genius? I am…" Aurora bragged

"Who risked their live in the back of that trunk, I did.." Chase interjected

"It was a Group Effort," Emma the peacekeeper said

Jonathan turned back and smiled, knowing what they had done and that they'd have to be dealt with later on, he would punish them but not as bad as they would imagine. He couldn't

They had given him back his heart.

As the Minister Pronounced them Man and Wife again, Jennifer paused to look around her, at the five tiny identical faces and wondered how she ever got to be so lucky.

She'd finally have it all and just a little bit more.

"Are you ready to return home, Mrs. Hart?"

"Music to my ears Mr. Hart ," She smiled, "But before we go home, there's something I need to tell you," She pulled him forward and whispered in his ear,

When his face lit up, she knew that whatever was going to happen, they would figure it out together.


	12. Epilogue

SIX MONTHS LATER

Sage Cash Hart was born on a Summer Morning just as the sun came up in the bedroom his mother had spent five years of her life in trapped in her own body except this time, was surrounded by nothing but peace and love, and although his birth was anticipated, it was still was special because he was considered the miracle baby, the child that wasn't supposed to be but was. As the youngest of the six, he would be watched over by his brothers and sisters carefully because although they were all special in their own way, he would be considered the most special.

With his head of dark hair and his tiny face, he easily resembled the others but there was a quality about him that stood out, Maybe because his mommy was present at his birth whereas before she was unconscious and completely unaware and this time even Daddy was present. His first cries bringing his brothers and sisters running from their beds to meet the newest member of their family. They would always remember that Sage's birth signified a new direction in their lives.

Completion and Stability,

And the knowledge that Home Truly is where The Hart is.


End file.
